Being Electrocuted
Pulled Pork
I made pulled pork yesterday. I use my father-in-law's recipe, which I'm sure he doesn't mind me sharing with you. However, if you do open a restaurant one day and use this recipe, you should probably let him eat there for free whenever he wants. Anyway, here's what you need:
1 crock pot or slow cooker
3-5 lb pork shoulder (or similar)
1.5 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dry ground mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp paprika
rolls
bbq sauce
Step 1: Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl

Step 2: Unwrap the pork shoulder and apply dry rub.

Step 3: Place in Crock Pot, set to low, and cover. Cooking will take 5-6 hours. Check in every two hours, and increase the temperature to high if the meat doesn't start falling apart at 4 hours.
Step 4: After about 4 hours, the meat should start to fall apart. If your pork shoulder was tied together with twine, cut it off and remove it now. If it is not fully ready, replace the cover and check back each hour. When the meat can easily be pulled apart with two forks, go ahead and pull it.
Labels: cooking, food
Dinosaur Jr.

I wore this shirt today and got a half dozen compliments.
Also, Dinosaur Jr just put up a song from their new album at www.dinosaurjr.com. Check it out.
Hey Baby
So, I'm a little late to blog about this, but I figure it is worth saying loud and clear: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!
We told our family a few months back, and finally let our inner circle of friends in on the secret on our recent trip to Florida for my graduation. Soon after that, we lifted internet silence and here we are. It was very hard to keep it secret.
The yet-to-be-named person is due sometime around October 24th. We'll probably find out the gender, but it is still an active point of discussion. We are bouncing around some names, but we will not be doing anything crazy like
letting the internet name our baby. Needless to say, we are
really excited!
Here's what we've seen so far...
At 8 Weeks (1 cm):

12 Weeks (Head, arms, legs):

I'll post regular updates here, maybe even start a blog for the baby. A baby with a blog - How ridiculous, right?
Labels: Baby, blogging, family
Kauai Vacation 2009
In case you didn't notice I was gone, back in January, Brigitta and I took a little vacation to celebrate our three year anniversary. Here are some pics from the trip. We did everything we could over 9 days, including hiking to beaches and waterfalls, snorkeling, kayaking, and eating lots of shaved ice, tropical fruit, and macadamia nuts.
I highly recommend Kauai over Maui if you want to get out and do more than lounge at the hotel. We also really liked our condo there, so hit me up for recommendations if you are planning a trip. I can't wait to go back...
Labels: Travel, vacation
Best Albums of 2008
Yeah, I realize 2008 is a ways back, but it took me a while to purchase some of these, and I've been busy with school. So, following up on
last year's best-of list, here are my favorite albums of 2008, sorted in descending order of heaviness of course...
Torche -
Meanderthal :: Torche's second full length. Just think if Sabbath and Helmet had a lovechild. Heavy, yet amazingly melodic anthems.
Clouds -
We Are Above You :: Psychadelic metal, with a strong harcore punk influence. Former members of Cave-in playing music that sounds like it would have been from their first garage band.
Suicide Note -
Empty Rooms :: They continues to evolve, yet retain their hardcore roots and incorporate a spectrum of influences. They amazingly find originality in a genre where it should no longer exist. Hard to explain, you'll just have to listen.
Young Widows -
Old Wounds :: Sounds like a mix of everything Steve Albini has ever had his hands on. Oh, except the the song 'Delay Your Pressure' which sounds suspiciously a lot like Escape Grace's 'The Siren City'. Don't get me wrong, the album is a refreshing direction.
The Night Marchers -
See You In Magic :: Half of Hot Snakes. Sounds like Rocket From the Crypt without the horns, which I actually prefer.
The Hold Steady -
Stay Positive :: If Bruce Springsteen was in a punk rock band (emphasis on the rock), this would be them. I wasn't a fan of the two recent albums, but this one makes up for it.
CSS -
Donkey :: Wild Brazilians. I'm not sure I can describe this in words, but I'll try: Zany, aggressive, guitar and synth heavy pop songs sung in broken English. Trust me, it works.
Wolf Parade -
At Mount Zoomer :: I got out to see them live this year. WP are probably my favorite active 'indie rock' band right now. This album took a little getting used to, but if you listen through the quirky melodies once, you'll be hooked.
Nada Surf -
Lucky :: Not their best album, but still solid rock record, as usual.
Vampire Weekend -
S/T :: Catchiest album of the year. This is an ESPN instant classic.
Conor Oberst -
S/T :: Folksy acoustic songs, more country than most Bright Eyes albums. The more stripped down the music the more obvious it is how talented a songwriter Oberst is.
Honorable Mention (good, but haven't listened enough to form an opinion):
Best EP's:
Obits -
One Cross Apiece :: The other half of Hot Snakes. If only Rick Froberg sang for the Night Marchers.
Cutman -
Big Deal :: Punk songs about bulldozers and vans.
:::::
Labels: music
My Amazon Wish List
To anyone who has ever asked me what I want for a gift,
You will now find the following button on the right hand side of my blog. It is a link to an Amazon wish list, where I will try to keep an updated list of all the thing I ever want in this world. Let's just go ahead and assume that if Amazon doesn't have it, it isn't worth having.

I got it started with things that are on top of mind, like records and new shoes, but I will add to it frequently, and even more so if I find a sweet Android app that lets me scan barcodes and 'add to wishlist'.
Labels: Things
The Real Matt Dougherty
I was re-registering a domain I own the other day, and somehow got into a vanity search tangent for available domains that are variations on my name and main domain
mattdougherty.com. Maybe it was the marketing classes that prompted me to protect my brand, or maybe it was that Google treats 'Doherty' as an acronym for 'Dougherty'. I am not Matt Doherty and he is not me!
Matt Doherty, among other people, is a former University of North Carolina and University of Kansas
basketball coach (Yes, similar to
Roy Williams), and he is an
actor who starred in classics such as
The Mighty Ducks and
So I Married An Axe Murderer.
Since both of these people show up for searches for my name, I went ahead and purchased
mattdoherty.com because it was available, and while I was at it, GoDaddy convinced me to buy
mattdougherty.info and
matthewdougherty.info each for 99 cents. None of them will host any content, and currently 301 redirect to my main site. If one of the real Matt Doherty's ever reaches out to me and wants their domain, I will probably give it to him (in exchange for movie or basketball tickets).
Labels: Google, me, Movies, sports, tech