"Ask a Ninja" written by Kara on estrip.org

Category: ninja

02/19/06 04:53 - 19ºF - ID#24941

Ask a Ninja

We don't have cable, and on the whole I don't miss it. Sometimes I just need a few minutes of mindless entertainment, so now I go to Google Video.
The Ask a Ninja series is phenomenally good

Permalink: Ask_a_Ninja.html
Words: 44
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: stupid

02/18/06 02:19 - 14ºF - ID#24940

Bad days

Yesterday could have gone better. My computer at work died a quick yet painful death in the middle of the afternoon. When you hear a grinding noise, followed by a "Disk Read Error, Press Ctrl-Alt-Del to Restart" on a black screen, you are SOL. Goodbye, my 2-pound Portege, you served me well for the past 8 months.
Fortunately, the guys in IT may be able to recover some of my files, and all the important web files are on the server, so the Web site is safe. My email is on Outlook, so i only lost older files that I wasn't ever going to look at again. They had extra laptops, so in truth I was without a working computer for a total of 90 minutes, and for half of that I was in a meeting, anyway.
My programs, utilities, settings and other files, unfortunately, have perished.
All my bookmarks are stored in del.icio.us, so I didn't lose those. That would have been a tragedy.
I was able to reconstruct most of the programs and utilities I use in about an hour, but itmay be weeks before I get back to where I was just 24 hours ago.
Here's my list of essential (and non-essential) tools for doing my job and otherwise getting through the day.
Dreamweaver (I ordered Studio 8, but it's MX for now)
Adobe Photoshop 7
Adobe Acrobat
Firefox

and related extensions, mainly the developer's toolbar

WinSCP

Textpad

Winamp

and Streamripper

Google Toolbar

Adaware

Spybot

SmartFTP

Freemonitor for Google

Trillian

This will be useful for the next time a computer around me dies.

The moral of this story: back up your data often.

Permalink: Bad_days.html
Words: 343
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

02/16/06 06:58 - 40ºF - ID#24939

Abbycakes

This recipe is published in honor of my puppy, Abby, who is just as happy crunching on ice cubes as she is chewing on these gourmet treats.

Ingredients
3 cups AP flour
2 tbsp. baking powder
2 tbsp. carob powder
1/2 tsp. salt
several large dashes of cinnamon
1/2 cup veg. oil
2 large eggs
3/4 cup (several largish scoops) of unsweetened applesauce
1/2 cup honey
Steps
Combine dry ingredients, add wet ingredients. Spoon into mini muffin tins (2/3 full) that have been lightly sprayed with butter spray. Sprinkle the tops with carob chips if you're feeling sprinkly. This should make 24 mini muffins. If the batter is stiff enough (mine was), you could spoon this onto a lightly greased cookie sheet into small treats. For treats that will be consumed by smaller dogs, this would be the way to go.
Bake in a preheated oven at 325 degrees for 20-25 minutes.
Though perfectly safe for human consumption, leave these for the puppies.
Carob powder can be found at your local hippie store. I think Weggies has the chips.
Though these can be stored at room temperature for a few days, I refrigerate mine. Freeze any that will not be eaten soon; unfreeze before serving.

Permalink: Abbycakes.html
Words: 194
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: current

02/13/06 07:29 - 25ºF - ID#24938

Currently ...

What I'm listening to
Coast to Coast AM - usually on Shoutcast during the day.

Korn's Twisted Transistor. I like Korn.
KT Tunstall's Black Horse and a Cherry Tree. We heard her on NPR

last weekend, and I found her myspace page

. This is a song that makes me want to buy her CD

and that's a rare thing. She is a one woman band and truly makes that work.
Air America in Buffalo on WHLD 1270AM

the local crew was decent this morning, I caught a bit of Mr. Franken and friends over lunch, but I can't stand Randi Rhodes. It's not that her ideas are bad; her voice is just too shrill for me.
What I'm reading
The Complete Idiot's Guide to Learning Latin

Mother Earth News (magazine)

Home Education Magazine

What I'm creating the kitchen this week
More focaccia
Yogurt
Dog treats
Something with steak
Something with eggplant

Permalink: Currently_.html
Words: 236
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: travel

02/13/06 09:12 - 24ºF - ID#24937

Eire

I want to plan a honeymoon. Right now we only have the general idea that "it'd be cool to go to Ireland ... sometime ... and do ... things, and stuff." We have friends who have gone there, but they had family to stay with throughout the country.
Has anyone travelled there? Do you have suggestions on getting there and getting around? Anything we should know before we buy tickets to the Emerald Isle?

Permalink: Eire.html
Words: 71
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: politics

02/10/06 12:20 - 24ºF - ID#24936

Politicians at Work

Late last year, someone I am very close to had to have emergency surgery after a complication from a routine medical procedure. Though it was a known risk of the procedure, we still have questions on how the doctor handled the situation. I sent out an email to this person's NYS Senate and NYS Assembly representative, and to the NYS Department of Health, asking to whom we should direct a formal complaint. I wasn't expecting a response - it was more an intellectual exercise to see how responsive state officials are.
To my total surprise, the Senate Member, John DeFrancisco

(or someone from his office) sent the address for the Office of Professional Discipline within 24 hours. 24 hours. This is outstanding, totally great, and is one small step towards a restoration ofmy faith in state government.
The Assembly Member, Joan Christensen

, had an even quicker response, but didn't answer the question. Instead they asked for my family member's postal address so (her office) could respond by mail. Ho hum.
So, Joan's office - wait, I'm sorry, the New York State taxpayers - will spend 39 cents to respond to this simple question, in addition to paper, ink and other ancillary costs. John's office gave me the answer I needed over email - with no appreciable cost.
Of course I've had no response from the Health Department. I won't hold my breath.
[updated to add: I stand corrected. They just sent me detailed instructions on how to download a complaint form and how to proceed. Mad props to the NYS Health Department]
Thank you, Senator DeFrancisco. You done good. May you and your staff have many more happy years in office.

I've previously sent emails to local (Buffalo) politicians with basic, legitimate questions about city and regional issues. I don't know whether to attribute their lack of response to a) arrogance, b) an inability to do their jobs, or c) an inability to form complete sentences. Why choose? I should go with all three.

Permalink: Politicians_at_Work.html
Words: 341
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

02/09/06 12:39 - 22ºF - ID#24935

Stunning Food Photography

This link

(seen on Metafilter

) was just a joy to look at. So artful! So full of food!

Permalink: Stunning_Food_Photography.html
Words: 27
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

02/08/06 10:06 - 18ºF - ID#24934

Focaccia

Perfect, elastic dough; delicious, slightly salty taste.
Ingredients
1 cup lukewarm water
3 cups bread flour
2 tbsp. dry milk
3 1/2 tbsp. sugar
1 tsp. salt
2 tbsp. olive oil
handful of chopped sundried tomatoes
(topping: 1 1/2 tsp. dried rosemary; 3/4 tsp. garlic salt or garlic powder; 2 tbsp. romano or parmesean cheese)
Tools
Breadmaker
Big Bowl
Pizza stone
Steps
Add the water, flour, dry milk, sugar, salt, OO and tomatoes to the breadmaker. Mix it at the dough setting. On my breadmaker, it's about 90 minutes.
Remove the dough and knead on a well floured surface for at least a minute. The dough should be elastic and slightly sticky (the floured surface will help).
Put the dough into an oiled bowl - fli it around a few times so that the entire surface is coated.
Place a damp towel over the bowl and let sit for 15-30 minutes. It should get much bigger.
Lightly sprinkle corn meal on the pizza stone. Roll out the dough to the edges of the stone. Spray olive oil over the dough, and lightly poke the dough with the handle part of a wooden spoon or the handle part of the rolling pin. "Dot" it well! otherwise you'll get gigantic pockets in the final baked bread.
Cover again with a damp towl and let sit for at least 30 minutes. I set mine on top of the stove, and preheat the oven for the final 10 minutes.
Remove the towel and sprinkle the rosemary, garlic and cheese over the top. Other combinations of spices would work - use your imagination.
Bake at 400 for 15 minutes or until browned. Slice into squares or strips for serving; use a selection of toppings (tapenade?

), spiced olive oil for dipping, or melted cheese for snacky goodness. This also goes well with soup

.

Permalink: Focaccia.html
Words: 309
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: music

02/07/06 08:54 - 26ºF - ID#24933

Playing by ear

I just took this test from the University of Newcastle - a music test -

The test asks you to listen to 30 pairs of short melodies; some match exactly, the rest are slightly different. I correctly identified 24 out of 30, which is well short of perfect, but much better than pure guessing. If I didn't have American Idol on in the background, I might have scored better.
This brings me to my newest weekend hobby: piano playin'. J's parents have a piano, and I've brought the few piano/sheet music books I have down there to start practicing. I never took formal piano lessons, but with 8 years of flute playing, and a few years of piccolo and oboe for good measure, I know about notes and phrasing and stuff. Being able to hear when a note is wrong helps a bunch. I find it entertaining to keep asking "give me a song!" and then picking out the notes. As I told a friend today - once I learn my chords, and how to keep my left hand moving, I'll be dangerous.
Anyway, I can noodle through a few Tori Amos songs if I drop out occasional chords and the really tricky parts. J's mom has a large collection of sheet music, ranging from the best of the 70s to 50's standards. I do best with the songs that I know by heart, so the score for Les Miserables and the 80s commercial tunes are also good to practice on.
Does anyone know of any good online sources for sheet music that people have already transposed?

Permalink: Playing_by_ear.html
Words: 271
Location: Buffalo, NY

Category: food

02/03/06 03:07 - 37ºF - ID#24932

Original Peeps

Easter's just a few months away.
I give you links related to original peeps
- Peep Research

, with a new special of Peep Surgery

- An American Peep in Paris

and of course,
- Lord of the Peeps

Purple peeps are my favorite, though it hurts my stomach and teeth to eat more than one at a time.