Tuesday, May 31, 2005
Live Long and Prodigiously
My theory on this is that with sufficiently extended lifespans, people will indeed change careers and refresh themselves at intervals. People already do this to some degree, but more time will allow it to be more definitive.
Despite getting new training or education, or refreshing themselves with sabbaticals that do as much, nobody will ever shed completely their old knowledge and experience.
If anything, this will be even better for creativity, discovery, and making new connections.
It will be fascinating to watch widespread, dramatic life extension unfold.
Condom ads on network TV?
All I’ve got to say about this is that if I have to watch ads for products to make the thing stand up in the first place, then what the hell do I care about ads for how to dress it once it does?
And since we’re on the topic of annoying commercials, I have a suggestion: if we’ve got to ban an f-word, can we make it “freshness” instead of the other and ban it everywhere, rather than just on cable?
Baby Blog Migration
All posts that I made to the original baby blog we abandoned last November have now been migrated to this blog, or were cross-posted here in the first place. As noted previously, I dated them currently when I first put them up here, letting them be visible as “new” for a day or two, and then they have been or will be edited to their original date and time to appear in proper sequence. Baby, belly and ultrasound pictures have been categorized under “baby pictures,” making the collection more complete.
It’s interesting to see the ultrasounds and other old stuff juxtaposed with the Sadie of today, who is learning things like “coffee can be hot.”
Deb’s posts remain to be migrated. Stay tuned…
Well, there goes my day.
I knew it had to happen eventually. There’s no way to avoid it forever. When the grass gets up above your ankles, you have to cut it. You just have to.
So the lawn guys just came and mowed the yard (I really do love renting sometimes), and I’ve already started sneezing.
I think it’s time to do some Claritin and lie about it.
You see, I’m not allowed to take anything at all for my allergies, which means that I can pretty much count on being completely incapacitated every time the grass is cut and for all of ragweed season. Sudafed they let me take when I was pregnant, but now that I’m not I’ve been ordered not to take it...[rant redacted]...and I don’t really want to, anyway, since it has a reputation for drying up your milk, and I’m still nursing. Furthermore, because I am still nursing, my doc won’t let me take any antihistimines (with the exception, possibly, of Benadryl, though he’d rather I not). I presume that this is a case of no doctor can know everything, because my own research has uncovered the fact that there are actually safe options out there, and Claritin is one.
I’ve had a headache for the last month. I’ve had enough.
Point of curiosity...I’ve never had a doctor who believed that pollen allergies could be more than just bothersome. I assume they exist, since somebody has to be prescribing all that stuff they show on TV. It must just be me, but how weird, right?
The Smuggernaut Rolls On
Congratulations Jen! Some of us are not surprised at all, even as we are overwhelmingly happy for you.
Grand Rounds Is Up
The latest Grand Rounds is up, doubling as a tribute to Leonardo Da Vinci, hosted by Dr. Sanity. It includes links to many posts on medical topics, including the business and public policy aspects.
Your Daily Sadie
Monday, May 30, 2005
Carnival of the Capitalists
The latest Carnival of the Capitalists is up at Slacker Manager.
Rosa Say did a fantastic job covering for Bren, who is in the midst of an adoption.
This is also a record edition, with 56 57 entries.
Next week’s host will be GalaTime.
For the complete list of future hosts and other information, see the Carnival of the Capitalists page. Visit past editions you might have missed via the past locations page.
Send your entries to cotcmail -at- gmail -dot- com, or better still, do what most entrants do; use the handy submission forms at Gongol.com or Conservative Cat.
Your Daily Sadie
Sunday, May 29, 2005
Eight Months
Sadie is eight months old today. Wow, time flies! She marked the occasion by saying the word “no!” for the first time. I thought she was going to take a step this morning, but she merely stood for the longest duration yet, and leaned to me when she wanted to come my way.
We’re suddenly at about half “people food” and half jar food, with the latter apparently set to decrease rapidly. Deb had suggested Nilla Wafers, so I bought some yesterday. Sadie loves them, but Deb didn’t tell me they’d be mainly for her and the baby was merely an excuse.
She’s been eating chunks of dry toast, yesterday with wheat bread for a change. She also had some english muffin, which I never buy normally but was on sale two for one. This morning with apricot preserves, which she loves as much as I do. She also eats crusts off of our garlic bread when we have that. She likes pasta. Heck, she mostly likes anything she can feed herself. That’s key now. That was how she tried broccoli, on a big towel on the computer room floor.
Last night she completed the meat trifecta with her favorite so far: pork. Which is another post; how my experiment turned out (in brief, it got a lot of “this is soooo good!” statements from Deb, but wasn’t exactly to plan).
Let’s see, what else is new or notable? We lowered the crib mattress as far as it goes last night. The kid is hard to measure, but she appears to be 27 inches or just under as of a couple days ago. She got to the point where she might have been able to stand on something and flip herself out of the crib. Unlikely, but why take chances.
She likes to tell stories sometimes. She’ll do something with me, like have her bath, then go to Deb and babble a long, excited stream of “talk” heavy on the dadada. She’ll come to me and do the same with mamama.
Sometimes it gets annoying when she begs for our food, but mostly it’s cute, and the way she’s doing a portion of her eating now. Thus the English muffin this morning, and some blueberry cake Krispy Kreme, and some coffee. And last night, some peach ice cream and some shreds of pork (which she also had for supper proper in her chair).
When I shopped yesterday, I got her some more Cheerios, some more apples to steam pieces of for her to feed herself, and broccoli for us to share with her. I also got myself a treat of some cherries on sale, with the idea she could try that too. I buy them about once a year.
We’re hoping the darn teeth that are tormenting her come through soon. It’s getting ridiculous. It’ll be nice to have the pain subside so she’s less cranky than in recent days.
Anyway, we’re assuming she’ll walk by nine months, so I told her the other day that she only had a month left. I shouldn’t encourage it, I know. After all the quality time she and gravity have been spending together, she might as well get something for her trouble soon.
Carnival of Cars
I would never have thought of doing a Carnival of Cars, but I can see it being of great interest to many people, whether from a consumer, design, or business aspect. My father owned a body shop for decades, and seeing this made me imagine the juxtaposition of that with blogs in particular and the web in general.
I notice that Bob Lutz of GM is in the carnival with this post. That’s very cool, and his blog is a fantastic example of business use of a blog for customer - or potential customer - interaction.
Your Daily Sadie
Saturday, May 28, 2005
Recipes and Experimental Ribs
Fresh as a Daisy has the latest Carnival of the Recipes for your perusal. I actually remembered to get in it this week. Go me!
I’m about to embark on one of my little cooking experiments. Boneless country style ribs are on sale for $1.99/lb this week, so I got a nearly 3 lb package of them. My sister makes the best baked ribs in mass quantities of sauce, so I was going to try to replicate it. I even bought molasses, which is one ingredient, but I forgot that she uses tomato juice. Close enough. I have everything else that one might use for such a concoction.
Since we’re having warmth today, and were having sun, I was thinking it might not be ideal to run the over for a couple hours. So I’m going to try ribs in the crockbot. Without a recipe.
Worst case, it gets overcooked and we end up with shredded pork. It’s hard not to come out with something edible and even yummy. The question will be whether I want to try it again, and how it might need refining.
I’ll try to keep track of what I do so I can make it a recipe on the first pass if it’s good…
Overheard in our house:
"Makes you hope they tied lead weights to Reagan so he doesn’t actually spin.”
Your Daily Sadie
Friday, May 27, 2005
Statics rather than dynamics.
Sadie is being particularly amusing at the moment, in a watch the baby learn in such weird chunks sort of way. For example, she’s getting quite good at standing. It is so entirely strange to look over and see her just standing there. But despite being a skillful cruiser, she hasn’t shown any interest at all in walking. After watching her stand for a bit tonight, I have a theory about this. When she’s standing without holding on to anything, she curls her toes up really tight, to the point where her entire foot looks distorted. As far as I can tell, she’s convinced that this is what is holding her upright. I’m pretty sure she thinks if she relinquishes the toe grip long enough to take a step, gravity will get her.
‘Course, she and gravity have a history, so I can’t hardly blame her. 
A little advice:
Whatever you do, don’t ever say It’s so nice now that she’s nursing less.
I made the mistake of saying this yesterday and the kid has now demanded milk 3 times in 3 hours. That’s what I get for mentioning that we’re down to maybe five times a day…
Amusing, in that sick sort of way.
It seems that GMAC Insurance had themselves a little study, the results of which are probably not shocking to anyone who drives.
It is absolutely no surprise to me that Massachussetts only avoided being the state with the nation’s dumbest drivers because Rhode Island is even worse. They don’t call ‘em Massholes for nothing!
Or should I say us, since the only hope of survival one has is to drive like them when you’re in their territory?
I’m still terrified to drive here and I avoid it whenever possible. Too many people have trouble with simple concepts like which side of the road is which. (Answer: if the dude has to slow down to stay on his side of the road, then the other side is his, too.)
Of course, any problems with lack of knowledge and/or awareness are greatly exacerbated by lack of infrastructure, but that’s another post.
Blog Marriages: The Trend Continues
First us, then Sarah and Frank.
Now? Michael Williams is marrying The Daily Spork, after meeting at a blogger gathering.
Congratulations!
Now they can start a joint blog called Master of Sporks. Or something.
My Favorite Thing About Site Meter
I just love when the meter counts up by, say, two hits in an hour, during which time you can see that it shows an additional twenty or so referrers. It just smacks of believability and all that.
Dream a Little Dream
I had a bizarre dream before I woke up this morning. It included me, LaShawn Barber, and the entire Congress. It took place in or around DC, and there was some kind of security or terror alert or scare happening. There was also a lot of wireless computer technology involved, and a closed or abandoned mall with lots of kiosks in the main corridor.
Business BlogCasting Again
If you haven’t checked it out yet, Business BlogCasting is coming along nicely as a combined text and audio group blog.
The interesting thing about the audio posts is if you have something to do that requires little enough focus that you can listen and do something else at the same time, it provides a multitasking effect. I listened to the interview/chat with Rob while working on modifying and sending an invoice. Except for fading out a bit when I was tallying, it was a great overlap.
F*cking Mouse
This mouse is dead.
Not only is it acting up. Not only is it an obnoxious size and shape that’s hurting my hand. It has an absurd design with buttons on the sides that, in the browser, invoke the back and forward functions. So yeah, the post I just wrote in the EE interface, coincidentally making fun of Microsoft at the religious right’s expense, was just wiped out by the fact that one can casually brush those buttons on the Microsoft brand mouse and changed browser windows unintentionally. Which wipes what’s been composed.
At least I have good impulse control compared to my younger days. My first urge was to bring my fist down on the offending mouse and smash it. The urge got filtered and stopped, even though I am about to replace it anyway, even though I have a spare sitting a couple feet away. Go me. I feel so grown up now. Or at least repressed and logical.
I’ll bring a mouse home from the office today to try to save my wrist and lower my frustration. Moronic design is the least of the problems with it.
Your Daily Sadie
Thursday, May 26, 2005
Cooking Under Fire
We’re totally hooked on Cooking Under Fire, a PBS reality show in which the winner gets to be a chef in a Todd English restaurant in New York. We’ve started being sure to catch it each Thursday, though it also airs Wednesday on some stations, and you can be spoiled by visiting the web site once it airs the first night.
I was sad to see Russell go this week, though I knew it had to be him as soon as I saw the grease fire and criticism of his cooking area. Reading his journal entry after the previous episode, he struck me as not only a great guy, but particularly literate.
But then I was also sad to see Mike go last week. Can’t win ‘em all. There are more abrasive contestants I’d rather see cast off, but they are getting it done, or at least squeaking through.
I feel like a complete amateur compared to the finalists on the show. Which is as it should be; the least of them has training, experience and knowledge I’ve never come close to achieving.
It might be kind of weird starting to watch as of the 6th episode, but not as much as some shows. I highly recommend it, even if you don’t care for traditional cooking shows. It’s sort of like Iron Chef meets American Idol. Or something like that. With all the judges more like Simon and less like Paula.
Recipe: Roasted Broccoli Salad
This rather different recipe is courtesy of my stepmother. I haven’t tried it, but it certainly sounds good!
ROASTED BROCCOLI SALAD
Oven-blasted broccoli is my favorite because it tastes primal, sweet, really almost singed. It’s entirely different than blanched broccoli and the flowerets don’t get soggy from any water. Olive oil and balsamic vinegar play into that sweetness.
5 cup (13 oz.) broccoli flowerets
2 tablespoon. olive oil
1/2 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
3 teaspoon balsamic vinegar
1 small clove garlic, run through garlic press1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit. In large bowl, toss broccoli with 1 tablespoon of the olive oil and the salt and pepper. Spread on baking sheet and roast 10 minutes or until broccoli is tender and lightly browned.
2. Meanwhile, in jar with tightly fitting lid, combine remaining olive oil, balsamic vinegar, and garlic. Shake until well combined. Place broccoli in serving bowl and let cool slightly. Pour dressing over and toss just before serving.
Hey, Cool!
We are number two and three right now on a Google search for Mumbles Menino.
That would be Mayor Mumbles, boss of Boston, enemy of fine enunciation, disparager of snow parking etiquette and associated temporary property rights, and evidence of the ease with which one can fool an electorate. At least in one city.
I’ll Take Substance Over Style Any Day
Your Dominant Thinking Style: |
| Exploring
You thrive on the unknown and unpredictable. Novelty is your middle name.
An expert inventor and problem solver, you approach everything from new angles.
|
Your Secondary Thinking Style: |
| Modifying
Super logical and rational, you consider every fact available to you.
You prefer what’s known and proven - to the new and untested.
|
Via the soon to be smug Jen
Happy Dance Indeed
Hooray for Doctor Caltechgirl! She successfully obtained not only her P and H, but her D as well.
Now she can start teaching younglings, spreading torment to the next generation. Sounds like fun! If you’re into that sort of thing.
Dead In The Water [Updated]
If you’ve been trying to reach Absinthe & Cookies, Ninjababe’s Ramble, (the sadly neglected) All Agitprop All the Time (aka Frozen in Montreal), or Mickey’s Musings, you may have noticed they are down.
Ith sent me the scoop, which I thought I ought to pass along:
Apparently the HD died on one of the hosting company servers. We’re dead in the water. However, they’ve fixed the problem, and are now restoring sites. Depending where we are in the queue, it could be about 3 hours before we’re back.
Whenever I see the expression “dead in the water,” I can’t help thinking about a guy I used to work with. He would sabotage his own phone or computer and say “I’m dead in the water. Can’t take calls.” Which sounds funny enough in writing, but there was a certain musical yet almost comedic tone with which he said “dead in the water” that we would imitate and crack up over. His nickname became “Dead in the Water,” or DITW (pronounced “dit dubyu” for short). He also would leave the building during his hour of lunch, going to the gym for an hour and a half, and then eat lunch during his research hour. And yet we never were able to fire him. Such a weasel.
Update:
They’re back!