Hi friends!

I am here to tell you I decided to stop messing around and got myself a new, dedicated food blog. You can find it here:

Nerd Meets Kitchen

First post, slated to be published tomorrow, is for the January Spice Rack Challenge posed by Mother's Kitchen of the Michigan Lady Food Bloggers.

There's this goal-oriented meme that's going around: set yourself one hundred and one goals to complete in the next one thousand and one days (roughly 2.75 years). This is a bandwagon I am jumping on. It's BIGGER than New Year's Resolutions! It's more awesome than a locomotive...it's 101/1001!

( 101 in 1001:Collapse )

from pattimst3k:

* Bold the shows you've watched every episode of
* Italic the shows you've seen at least one episode of
* Strike thru any you haven't heard of
* Put an X by ones you have never seen an episode of (she added this to make them stand out)
* Post your answers
( Read more...Collapse )

I have an idea for a real, honest-to-pete, topic-driven blog. I have a name picked out. (and that domain name seems to be available, even.) Live Journal is awesome, but it is not the right venue/type for this topic.

So, any body care to offer up:
1) What blogging site or service do you favor and why?
2) What about getting a site hosted and/or using a domain name directly?

I find setting up a 'professional' blog a little bewildering. There's too much chaff information out there for me to digest on the topic.

All input appreciated!

Thoughts on the FB Bra Color Meme

Several days ago I got a note from a Facebook friend. It asked me to post the color of the bra I was currently wearing as a one-word status update. A lot of people, of course, have gotten some version of this meme. ( Read on.Collapse )

via sorcycat

Leave me a comment saying "Resistance is Futile."

* I'll respond by asking you five questions so I can satisfy my curiosity.
* Update your journal with the answers to the questions.
* Include this explanation in the post and offer to ask other people questions

1. How did you get into gaming?( Read more...Collapse )

Here is my family in a nutshell, courtesy of the movie Ratatouille:

My favorite quote is when chef Skinner almost discovers Linguini and Remy in the walk-in cooler. Linguini covers by trying to say he is getting familiar with the ingredients. “One can become too familiar with vegetables, you know!” booms Skinner.

My husband prefers the part in the montage about Horst, whom Collette claims has done time, when he intones, “I killed a man. With this thumb.”

My 11-year-old’s favorite part is when Linguini is inebriated, talking with chef Skinner. He says, “Ratatouille. It's like a stew, right? Why do they call it that? If you're gonna name a food, you should give it a name that sounds delicious. Ratatouille doesn't sound delicious. It sounds like 'rat' and 'patootie.' Rat-patootie, which does not sound delicious.”

That’s right. I like somewhat naughty, unintentional double-entendre word play. My husband likes the vaguely threatening but funny boast about personal prowess. And my middle-schooler likes mildly scatological, adolescent jokes about body parts. Heh, heh. And my youngest--she likes the part where all the rats are cooking in the kitchen: the visually fantastical, unreal team effort. She’s six. Go figure.

...by emailing [email protected] with my story of woe and tale of being blown off by the login help people.

Supposedly my message has been forwarded to the "right team" to deal with my problem. And then I was admonished to use the correct channels/the form at the help center. Hey, buddy, I *have* been doing that. ::rolls eyes::

Anyway, still don't know if this will really help, but I continue to live in hope.

I got a little obsessed with Facebook after joining earlier this week. (I'm sick and it's a been way to entertain myself when I can't sleep due to postnasal horribleness, for example.)

But the universe has pwned me in my quest for FB activity: ( Read more...Collapse )

Have joined evil lemming hordes on Facebook.

nuadha_prime

Rules: Don't take too long to think about it. Fifteen tv series you've seen all/most of the episodes of that will always stick with you. Series you have bought/would buy on DVD if money was no object. First fifteen you can recall in no more than fifteen minutes.

1. Firefly (already own)
2. How I Met Your Mother
3. True Blood
4. Dexter
5. Stargate SG-1
6. Doctor Who (new series)
7. Numb3rs
8. Heroes
9. The Guild (technically a web series)
10. Eureka
11. Tin Man (a mini-series may be stretching the meme...?)
12. The Lost Room (ditto)
13. Life on Mars (British, not American version)
14. Ashes to Ashes
15. House, M. D.

This was really hard, actually, because for a series to qualify as one I want to own, it has to be re-watchable, and/or be great examples of visual storytelling craft, and not a lot of series are that for me. Unless I want to maybe set an RPG in the universe, most series are watch-once. There are also a lot of series that I want to see but haven't yet (Dead Like Me, Pushing Daisies, and BSG, to name a few). If the "have watched most episodes" restriction went away, there were others I might have used, including 'Good Eats.'

Okay, I can't claw my eyes out to stop myself from having seen the last 30% of Torchwood: Children of the Earth, but I might consider it if it would work. Maybe if I open the Rift...?

( Read on if you like, but MAJOR SPOILER ALERT, you have been warned. Also, ranting and expletives ahead.Collapse )

...I haven't felt like writing lately. So I'll tell you about my afternoon.

Having finally gotten two panniers for my bike earlier this summer, and proved they work even with the kid-trailer by grocery shopping by bike a few times, I set out this week to show that I can exercise and save money simultaneously. Today I went to pick up my younger daughter (now age 6.5) from summer camp by bike for the second time. (Older daughter S is away at overnight girl scout camp this week.) Yesterday, I screwed this up by forgetting her bike helmet, even though my awesome panniers can hold a lot of stuff if I need them too.

I left myself just barely enough time, according to yesterday's one-way time trial, or 35 minutes. I was slightly late. Only by a couple of minutes. I hadn't bargained on a stiff headwind today. Also, the right pannier jumped off its mooring, necessitating a stop to put it right. Twice. Nor did I expect my gear shift control to break so I can't shift the front gear out of 1 (the setting for hills) unless I hold in in place manually, but it did. At least that happened when I was within about a half mile of getting to camp. I also determined that the route that goes along Washtenaw next to County Farm Park is a much better choice than the monster hill on Medford.

My bike is wounded but still operable. After a refill of my water bottle and collecting M's gear, off we went. Two bike shops are on feasible routes home, so we went by one to see if they could possibly help. Alas, they were too busy today to help, but I have an appointment for Monday. I considered the partial backtracking that trying the other would have required, but decided just to head for home instead.

The round trip for the actual route taken was 8.6 miles according to google maps. I'm not sure if dragging the trailer with M is a positive or negative to my calories burned. She is extra weight, but she can help push the bike when she pedals. There are definitely hills on the way home that require team effort and/or a rest in the middle. I'm going to call it no worse than a wash, because sometimes she just rides, and we are talking probably an extra 65 pounds between her, her backpack and lunchbox and all, and the trailer itself.

While I could collect her by bike the rest of the week even with an inoperable gear shift, I think I'll wait until I get my bike fixed. Maybe tomorrow I will walk and then we can go home by bus. I really should keep my training up; I have a half-marathon in less than 3 months.

Anybody out there happen to be on Swap-A-DVD and want me to say you referred me?

Ok, I admit I'm really late to this news. And I only noticed because of Wil Wheaton's twitter post about Shatner and the soon to be former SciFi channel. That's what I get for not having cable and getting my TV shows via NetFlix.

But, I find it completely inexplicable that the SciFi cable channel is changing its name to SyFy.

We got back from the Ann Arbor Fourth of July parade a little while ago. We marched/rode in it as part of the Ann Arbor Learning Community contingent. The kids decorated their bikes yesterday for this very purpose. It was fun to walk in the parade. I had the foresight to buy a whole lot of candy for the kids, and, as it turned out, me, to throw to the crowd. My backpack carried 17+ pounds of hard candy before the parade began. I was completely out by the time we reached the last block of the official route, even though I had rationed it along the way. It amazed me how many people, especially kids, were just sitting on the curb, not waving, not smiling, half blank. I made a point of throwing candy at people who waved, or at least smiled. All in all, it was fun.

Notes for next year:
-buy candy ahead
-try to take a sling-type bag to hold the candy instead of a backpack
-dividing the candy up into lots of quart size bags worked well for pacing the candy output
-take juggle sticks so I won't get drafted to hold the banner again ;-)
-remember to take my hat
-I wonder if we could get a couple of old broom handles or a long dowel or something to tie the banner to in order to make it easier to hold well.

We will be leaving for Willow Metro Park in a few hours so we can hang out for the afternoon, have picnic dinner, and watch the fireworks this evening. therck won't be joining us, but the other members of her family will, as well as dspitzle and his wife. If you will be around and want to join us, give me a call. The more the merrier, I say. Besides, I think it's going to be a bit chilly this evening, so more bodies to huddle up with is a good thing!

via a MusicBoomerang forum post.

I suddenly want to find a singing group again...

To the few of you who are interested:

Today is that last day for early bird registration discounts for the Free Press Marathon and Half Marathon.

Go here: http://www.freepmarathon.com/registration-information.htm
and click on "Register Now!"

As we strive to develop compassion for ourselves, it’s important to avoid making “letting go of desire” or “developing compassion for yourself” into new objects of compulsive desire. Becoming obsessive about quickly seeing big results from our efforts is a sign that deluded desire rather than compassion is driving our efforts. Real progress derives from honest introspection, and we cannot analyze our minds carefully when we’re hurried. Transforming our hearts is a gradual, organic process, and successfully cultivating compassion for ourselves necessitates a mature and steady approach.

–Lorne Ladner, from The Lost Art of Compassion (HarperSanFrancisco)
Tricycle's Daily Dharma for May 22, 2009

Was offered a Dreamwidth account code (Thanks!), and am trying it out. I wonder how to transfer old posts. I wonder if comments get copied too. I guess I will find out.

ETA:
My page:
http://cherydactyl.dreamwidth.org/

Front page/general information:
http://www.dreamwidth.org/

I have successfully imported all of my livejournal entries to dreamwidth, with comments, and twice auto-cross-posted here from there as of now.

The thing I like about dreamwidth is that it addresses that the two parts of "friend" shouldn't have to be tied together. Dreamwidth separates following a journal from granting rights to view your own protected posts to that same journal.

There will be wine and cheese and door prizes. It's a school art show, in which my kids both have pieces. There are some very interesting and well done pieces by kids from k to 8th grade. We have a couple ticket but no sitter. It's tonight at 7 pm in downtown Ypsi.

...in hearing about this new, about-to-be-launched, search engine, WolframAlpha?

Take the quiz

Guess what I scored?

A fire reflected in a lake cannot burn the water. Neither can emotions disturb the mind when you don’t get involved in them. Don’t identify an emotion as your self. The fear or anger is not you, only and impersonal phenomenon. Mentally pull back from the emotion and turn your awareness around to observe it. When in the grip of negative emotion we tend to believe it will never end. But emotions are no more permanent than thoughts. With continued practice you’ll find that you only have to wait and any emotion, whether pleasant or unpleasant, is bound to change.

–Cynthia Thatcher, from Just Seeing: Insight Mediation and Sense-Perception
Trycycle's daily dharma for May 3, 1009