Date:	2008-04-05 22:46
Subject:	Telephone Number PSA
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper

Just to let people know: our 'home phone number' is attached to the phone that is currently in California with Lara. I realize that this is (deeply) counterintuitive. The other options were no better.

At any rate -- for the next two weeks, if you want to reach *me*, you'll need to dial my cell phone. If you need my cell number, comment here or drop me an email. If you want to reach Lara, she's carrying the home phone in her pocket. Isn't technology cool?

Date:	2008-03-29 22:48
Subject:	The internet makes it way too easy to obsess...
Security:	Public
Mood:	anxious
Music:	Summer And Lightning - Electric Light Orchestra

So I can say with some confidence that ocelotn is cruising over Nebraska at this moment, on her way to California at 387 knots. She'll be in San Francisco for the next three weeks, working remotely and dodging the pollens of Spring.

I'm feeling much better than I was earlier, thanks in large part to Allen and Lisa (and Barbara) driving well out of their way to have dinner with me. But it's really weird and rather lonely -- Lara and I haven't spent 3 weeks apart since 1992 or so. I'm glad that she'll be out of the allergy zone, but I miss her already.

Date:	2008-03-27 21:54
Subject:	Looking for a Left-Handed Guitar
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	A Habitrail Named Klein - Blake Hodgetts

Do we have any left-handed guitar players in the house? I'm shopping for a guitar, and could use some advice. In particular:

* Are there stores in the extended Boston area (for this purpose, say the area bounded by New York, NY, York, ME, Concord, NH, and Albany, NY) with a good selection of left-handed acoustic guitars in stock?

* Would anybody like to get together for a shopping trip?

* Does anybody have suggestions for brands or models to look for (or avoid)?

More specifically, I'm looking for a left-handed, steel-stringed acoustic guitar. At this stage, budget is a secondary concern.

Yep, it's a random assortment of posts today, as I avoid doing what I should. So: beer reviews.
( capsule reviews after the cut, vodka drinkers... )

Date:	2008-03-05 20:11
Subject:	The same, but different.
Security:	Public
Mood:	amused
Music:	Don't Sleep In The Subway - 'Shout! The Mod Musical'

In my 'spam' box today: something from "Justin Bimetallism". This name is wasted on spam. Consider -- and top it if you can:

At the Cow Palace -- It's Justin Bimetallism! With guests WJ-Bryan and Free Silver! Special Guests: Hard Currency!

Next up, Free Silver's biggest hit, 43-2-1(Cross of Gold)!

Date:	2008-03-03 18:43
Subject:	It's not fraud if...
Security:	Public
Mood:	annoyed

...you only gull the gullible. It's just evil.

In my mail today: something that looks like a bill for $75, mentioning one of my domain names. Odd -- nothing related to my domain renews for months yet, and I've never heard of these bozos: "DLSCorp.net". I smell a rat.
( so I did some careful reading... this may get a bit long. )

Date:	2007-11-21 00:14
Subject:	Been busy lately.
Security:	Public
Mood:	artistic
Music:	"Hop High", Crooked Still

So I've settled (finally) the Thanksgiving menu for this year, with the exception that there's a potato option. I'd _like_ to have Pommes Anna, but I'll need a second 8-inch skillet, since we're having 8 to dine.

Yes, I'm nervous -- ocelotn's family are coming, and I'd be hard-pressed to lay my mitts on a more sophisticated set of diners. I'm a bit better organized this year, but still...
( <the menu and so on> )

First, my apologies to MASSFILC'ers who were expecting us at today's meeting -- we've been having allergy problems all week, and our immune systems are just too active to make coping with cats an option right now.

Anyway -- I had these two left-over avocados. And I had my ice cream maker. And we'd just finished off a batch of banana ice cream, which basically involves pulping bananas and adding sugar, lemon juice, vanilla, and cream.

( Details after the cut... )

Date:	2007-06-30 23:03
Subject:	Stupid computer tricks
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

If there is one stupid computer trick I hate more than another, it is when the computer yanks focus.

That is: you're typing along, getting down your guacamole recipe, or a regular expression, or your thoughts on computer quirks -- and half the line you were typing is lost because the system has pulled up a new window to ask if you want your nails buffed now, or has decided that the browser window you were loading in the background is now the most important thing in your life.

Microsoft holds the crown in this area -- their dialogs keep popping up again and again, and my typing goes out to them -- every damn time. On a Macintosh, it happens less, but a bunch of applications will do this to you. Camino has sinned most recently, so they get to hold the dead skunk in this post, but they're not alone. Linux/KDE has myriad annoyances, but they don't play this trick often, if at all.

How did it get to be a good idea to have my computer interrupt me constantly with little annoyances? Do any UI designers out there want to explain -- or refute me?

Date:	2007-06-30 15:53
Subject:	Story mashups, I cannot write.
Security:	Public
Mood:	weird
Music:	Still Catch the Tide - Seanan McGuire

The Wind at Pooh Corner: Having been evicted from Toad Hall, the weasels try to take over Christopher Robin's house.


Frog and Toad Hall are Friends: A new amphibian arrives, like Fortinbras, to take posession of the vacant manor.

The Road to Middlemarch: Bing Crosby and Bob Hope are itinerant physicians who intend to bring sleepy, rural Middlemarch into the modern age.

Date:	2007-06-30 15:39
Subject:	New Socks
Security:	Public
Mood:	content
Music:	You Give A Little Love - Paul Williams

Cotton socks.

Yeah, I can see you runners out there wincing and feeling your blisters. The fact remains that for light exertion, I haven't found anything more comfortable than cotton socks. Not wool (*really* not wool), not exotic two-layer technical confections (great for actual running, but not for everyday use), and certainly not soft polyester. But there are a lot of "cotton" socks out there made of something like 70% cotton, 20% polyester, and 10% something stretchy. I've never been happy with these -- they don't absorb sweat properly; they don't dry gracefully, and the cotton leaves them before the other ingredients, so over the life of the sock the polyester content keeps going up. Finally, you have a very sheer polyester sock with a few cotton bits stuck in it. Not good. You do need a bit of something stretchy in them, but in general, I can gauge my reaction to a sock by reading the fiber content.

Over the years, I've found a number of good cotton socks, and lost them again -- they keep going out of production. JCPenney for years made cotton work socks that were inexpensive, reasonably durable, and came in an amusing kraft-paper package with stencil-style lettering on them. Butch socks. They stopped selling these around 1986. More recently, the Gold Toe people had acceptable socks, but sold them under the same name as a high-polyester "cotton" thing, and packaged all of the above in plastic. I like the (now really worn-out) socks that I have, but I can't find more.

If there's anybody else out there who likes cotton socks with lots of cotton in them: Wigwam brand #F1055 "King Cotton" socks are the real thing: 95% cotton. And they come in sizes that fit feet from size (EU sizing) 37 to 51. My size is 'large', though 'medium' would probably work fine too.

And -- I'll be able to find this post the next time I need socks...

If you've stuck it out this long on footgear, I might as well switch gears and talk about where search engines fail. There are lots of common tasks, many of them related to housewares. Want a towel? Easy. A cotton towel? Simple. An all-cotton towel? Harder, but still pretty easy. A towel that's at least 50 inches by 32 inches, but could be larger in either dimension? Nope. Search engines don't tokenize numbers as numbers well or often, and don't do comparisons.

Similarly, a search string for socks of at least, say, 94% cotton content looks like (94% OR 95% OR 96% OR 97% OR 98% OR 99% OR 100%) AND "cotton socks". What you want is a search for cotton socks that's ranked by cotton content. Possibly with "unknown" as an option. What you get is... less useful.

And all this is much deeper below the CompSci radar than, say, image recognition and categorization.

W3C standards for product descriptions, anybody?

Date:	2007-06-29 18:35
Subject:	Well, that's a surprise...
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	Madame George - Van Morrison

A note in the mail today:

"Since you were summonsed, the needs of the court have changed and you are no longer required to appear for juror service as scheduled. Your service under this summons has been canceled."

Wow. My first ever call to jury duty -- cancelled. Or canceled, as they have it. Will it be another 17 years before I get another? What are the lifetime odds of my being called?
What's the preferred spelling of the past tense of 'cancel', anyway?

Oh, well -- there's plenty to do at work Tuesday.

Date:	2007-06-28 00:46
Subject:	insomnia
Security:	Public
Mood:	sleepy
Music:	Knight Moves - Suzanne Vega

If you can't sleep, get up and do something quiet. So I'm installing TeX, LaTeX, and AucTeX. So far, only a path problem, and the fact that the TeX package for OSX is 750Mb, and therefore quite a download. So it's quiet enough to qualify.

Of course, learning to properly use all this is another, larger task. Ah, well... life is learning. Put it on the stack with Javascript, Emacs Lisp, Scheme, Ruby, and Rails. Oh, and Lua. Meanwhile, I'm going to try to sleep again. G'night.

Date:	2007-06-27 22:18
Subject:	Back from Conterpoint
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired
Music:	Archetype Café - Talis Kimberley

We made it back from Conterpoint, despite delays and annoyances in transit. Compared to a lot of people, our delays were trivial-- but frankly, a system where a 56-minute flight requires 3 to 4 hours of airport time -- when nothing goes wrong -- is broken.

We had an awfully good time at the con. Saw lots of people; had lots of good conversation; heard lots of good songs, and sang a little.

More later when I've sorted out what's what.

Date:	2007-06-13 01:01
Subject:	A little light entertainment
Security:	Public
Mood:	pensive
Music:	The whirring of the air conditioners

I feel guilty, being a voyeur, sitting at home reading about everybody's lives, and giving nothing back -- I post maybe twice a month, and most of that is recipes I hope I'll remember later. Some of that reticence is the assumption that I have nothing interesting to say... but it's possible that I'm just not used to thinking that what I have to say _is_ interesting.

Given the avidity with which I read LJ posts, this may be a mistake. I'll try to do more. Post "I'm bored -- please stop!" if you get tired of it.
( So, about the PerlMongers meeting... )

Date:	2007-06-03 23:01
Subject:	Update with guacamole
Security:	Public
Mood:	tired

It's the end of the weekend -- time for a quick update.

First, the house phone is still out. Sigh. We'll get it fixed someday... meanwhile, cell phone or email are your best bets.

The last week has been OK, but busy. It's the tail end of the allergy season: we're dealing with stuffed-up noses, nasal drainage, and upset stomachs, but things are slowly getting better. So we'll be out and about more over the next couple of weeks, with any luck.

We spent the day today with friends, tasting English cheeses and playing board games. I'm sold on the concept -- anybody who wants to have a cheese-and-board-games evening, let us know...

Zooming back in time, we had friends in town, Kathy and Matthew, for the holiday weekend. That deserves a longer post, which it might even get. But not tonight.

One thing that came out of that event was a rather good recipe for guacamole, derived from the Cooks' Illustrated version. It takes maybe 10 minutes to make. It's also good as a sandwich, spread thickly on a halved baguette:
( recipe after the cut )

Date:	2007-05-19 21:02
Subject:	misc.
Security:	Public
Mood:	chipper
Music:	Wuthering Heights - Kate Bush

A quick update: the house phone is still out. We hope to get some resolution soon, but the phone will remain out over the weekend. Call my cell, email, or leave a comment in this post if you need to get hold of us.

Dinner tonight is beef brisket served as carne asada. The marinade:

1 lime, squeezed juice of.
1 lemon, squeezed juice of.
1 large handful cilantro
1 onion, cut into 24 pieces
4 cloves garlic, smashed
1 Tbsp kosher salt (roughly)
1 Tbsp hot pepper, chipotle
1/4 cup olive oil

Put all that into the food processor, then whiz into a thin paste.

Cut 1 beef brisket into thin slices across the grain.
Arrange 1 layer of brisket pieces in a glass casserole (11x17).
Cover with half the marinade.
arrange a second layer of brisket pieces.
Cover with the rest of the marinade.
Cover with plastic wrap and marinade room temp, 1 hour.

(Fry in a skillet and serve with warmed tortillas, pico de gallo, and sour cream, or guacamole if you're feeling ambitious. Do yourself a favor -- don't buy your guacamole. )


Later... It looks like 1 hour isn't enough, and that frying (grilling) isn't the right cooking method for brisket -- it came out flavorful, but way too tough. I'm leaving the remaining meat in the marinade overnight, and then I'll braise it for an hour or two and see what we get.

Date:	2007-05-12 17:26
Subject:	Our Land Line is broken.
Security:	Public
Mood:	pissed off

Verizon has struck again -- we have no dial tone.

They insist, of course, that the problem couldn't possibly be their network. So I have to dig out the old core-phone, plug it into the network access point, establish that there is no dial tone, and call them back.

On the cell phone, since that works.

Then arrange to transfer our phone number to some other service -- a cell phone, or possibly VOIP. Suggestions? This is the last time I'm going to let Verizon screw us over.

It's sort-of better than the last time, where they hooked our line to somebody else's number and didn't bother to mention it. I had to deal with a hysterical woman at 4AM who thought I was somebody's paramour.

Sigh. Meanwhile, call the cell if you need us.

Date:	2007-05-08 20:23
Subject:	Status report
Security:	Public
Mood:	sick

Back from SFO. Had a wonderful time. Saw lots of wonderful folks -- with luck, a trip report will follow.

Have picked up nasty cold or similar today -- fever, aches, etc.

Haven't read LJ in ~ two weeks. Status = bankrupt my pants.

Going to bed now.

Currently, I can receive email just fine, but I can't send it easily; something in my remote connection doesn't seem to like SMTP traffic. I'd mess around with it, but I'm on vacation, after all.