Sunday, November 17, 2013

Made In The U.S.A.?

Do you remember when it actually meant something to buy a product made in the U.S.A.? Can it really have been that long ago?

Years ago Wal-Mart proudly advertised that they sold items that were made in the U.S.A. Now it's a almost a struggle to find a product in their store that isn't made in another country. Perhaps I exaggerate a bit, but they sure don't promote "Made in the U.S.A." anymore.

Personally, I prefer getting products made in this country when I can, and supporting US companies. I'm not saying that I would avoid a foreign made product, but if I have my choice of equal quality products, I would rather have the US made version. Some items don't have equal counterparts, leaving no choice, of course.

Why do I bring this up? Recently in the news has been talk of the failed launched of the Obamacare website. Regardless of how you or I feel about Obamacare in general is not the point of this post. The thing that really struck me in the news, other than the extremely high cost of the website creation, was where the company responsible for most of the work is located. The work was done by what is essentially a Canadian company, not a US company.

Why? Someone please explain to me why a government would give such a large contract of work to a foreign company. Shouldn't there be a law that government contracts go to companies in the country. I can understand if there are no domestic companies that provide the product or service, then reach out to foreign companies. I'm willing to guess that there are plenty of companies in the United States that are more than capable of creating websites. Maybe the problems would be the same, but why are we sending tax dollars to another country for a product that is supposed to "serve" U.S. citizens?

Saturday, May 25, 2013

Playing Around With Photos At Work | According To Craig

I'm a photographer, and I even have a photography blog and fledgling photography business, Craig Pifer Photography. My day job at the Enchanted Forest Theme Park doesn't involve photography, but I still really enjoy the job. On Friday I took my camera to work with me just for the fun of it. I snapped a few photos and played around with them a bit.

This little waterfall can be found at the Tiny Tune Train ride in the Kiddy Ride area. It, and the surrounding decorations, were built by Roger Tofte, the creator of the Enchanted Forest Theme Park. I've dubbed this little fall as Tofte Falls.


Tuesday, March 5, 2013

Barbeque Chicken with Homemade Sauce - Yum!



I've been playing with making my own barbeque sauce. Why? you may ask. Frankly it's an effort to avoid some of the garbage that goes into store bought BBQ sauce, mainly high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). In my opinionated opinion, HFCS should be avoided as much as possible. I'm sure there will still be certain vices, perhaps a Dr Pepper or two, that I will partake in, but if there is an option without HFCS, that is what I will choose.

Anyway, I've come up with a recipe that is acceptable enough that it's worth repeating. It's not too spicy, which the rest of the family appreciates, not too sweet, which the wife appreciates. It tastes enough like a BBQ sauce to go ahead and claim that's what it is.

The first couple of times I made sauce, I then added in some canned roast beef (from CostCo) to make some BBQ beef sandwiches. Tonight chicken was on the menu and BBQ sauce was mentioned. The children all thought that sounded good, so I went with it. I had a bit of a mishap to start with, but our Vitamix solved that.