tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-69723231601461791052024-03-13T19:45:15.308-05:00:-OWaving his arms like a tiny Mike Teeveezimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.comBlogger262125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-27800138873120134922013-03-17T11:51:00.000-05:002013-03-17T11:51:26.905-05:00almost free vpni'd been surveying the vpn offerings from companies like Tunnel Bear, Private Internet Access and Strong VPN. after boiling down my use cases to exactly one immediate need/desire, I decided to roll my own.
that use case is getting secure browsing when connecting mobile devices to any wifi that isn't the one in my house.
happily, my new Asus router has a PPTP server built-in. and unlike my zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-13880605543468721192013-03-11T22:10:00.001-05:002013-03-11T22:10:30.791-05:00aaand the cable is coming backin an hilarious update, comcast has sold me on restoring cable!
instead of $60/mo for (officially) 20 Mbps internet and (officially) no cable TV, we'll be getting 50 Mbps internet for $50/mo -- for a year -- plus a non-DVR basic cable service w/ 6 free months of HBO.
iow, comcast jumped when i mentioned potentially switching to RCN.
zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-60024983921653881422013-03-10T23:59:00.000-05:002013-03-10T23:59:25.017-05:00cable is cancelled! aaand i still get TV through comcast.
i finally told Comcast to cancel the cable TV last week. this ended a series of frustrating phonecalls with them trying to gather enough information to decide if i wanted to. e.g. such hard hitters as "how much will my internet cost if i cancel the cable portion of my service?"
(after being passed around to several departments, i ended up speaking with a woman in California who had no access zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-69250411830009900832013-03-10T23:39:00.001-05:002013-03-10T23:41:12.754-05:00router madnessin an effort to 1) increase my wifi throughput and 2) set up a VPN server, i took the gf's old Linksys WRT54G wifi router and flashed it with ww-drt.
it was an interesting adventure, though not fruitful in the end. i was able to figure out which package to use for the router, but not by using the handy "find my firmware" tool on the site. instead, i crawled through wikis and forums to learn thatzimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-64053662350366979792013-02-20T00:11:00.002-06:002013-02-20T00:14:36.361-06:00IL crosswalk law: good intentions and probably more deathssome years ago, when commuting to Park Ridge for work, i noticed a curious plastic sign in the middle of a crosswalk. it had a pedestrian symbol, a stop sign symbol, and the text "State law: Traffic must stop for pedestrians in crosswalk."
And for the most part, traffic did stop. It was all very civil.
But i had not heard of this law, and saw no other mention of it. Until recently.
Recently, zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-49971879829346872272012-11-05T20:49:00.000-06:002012-11-05T20:49:20.305-06:00our automated societyfor the gf's birthday, we caught a matinee at a local mega-cinema owned by Regal:
Regal Entertainment Group (NYSE: RGC) operates the
largest and most geographically diverse theatre circuit in the United
States, consisting of 6,607 screens in 521 theatres in 37 states and the
District of Columbia as of October 25, 2012, with over 211 million
attendees for the fiscal year ended December 29, zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-68922973584429885072012-08-26T14:42:00.001-05:002012-08-26T14:42:43.455-05:00spicy burgers and homemade picklesthe gf is pickling cucumbers today, after having acquired 20-lbs of cucumbers from our new veggie CSA, Montalbano Farms. i think there are at least 4 pickle varieties planned.
we also opened a jar from her first batch, made at a pickling class a few weeks ago. a little garlicky and a little dilly, but definitely opened up when paired with the burgers i made for lunch.
we're running low on zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-45253572668331087092012-07-29T17:52:00.000-05:002012-07-29T17:52:01.500-05:00refreshing summer drink: hot blueberry custard shakedirections:
wait for blueberry season
make custard for blueberry ice cream
realize, with horror, that you made too much in step 2
drink hot
(optional) chase with half and half
zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-26407412664727451842012-05-27T00:34:00.001-05:002012-05-27T00:34:34.117-05:00United Airlines and the opposite of sense
on a recent trip to nyc, i elected to pay $25 to check my first bag, for each leg. i rightly guessed that by the time i boarded, there would be no overhead space left.
on the return, United announced at the gate that the flight was full, and rollerboards would be gate-checked for free. naturally, i do not expect to be refunded my $25. why should i, when my pre-planning helps them to load the zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-41839704431119865082012-05-05T01:34:00.001-05:002012-05-05T01:34:50.355-05:00a little credential standardization, pleasejust a small rant about sites, especially financial ones, enforcing silly rules for usernames and passwords that vary wildly from one site to the next.
some require special characters in passwords, some can't handle them! is my letters and numbers-only password really secure enough to protect my money?
i had a standard 6-character username, which in the past couple years became insufficient forzimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-60561768695680721182012-03-08T23:33:00.004-06:002012-03-08T23:57:48.896-06:00the wild west of content deliveryin a flurry of activity this week, i signed up for Amazon Prime and hulu+, and bought a Roku and a new cable modem.the ultimate goal is to cut down the monthly and outrageous Comcast bill, through which we currently get internet and tv.the small part of the savings will be the cable modem, which we've been renting for $7/mo. replaced that with a Motorola SURFboard SB6121, which has proven to be zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com10tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-51560512193474817292012-01-23T20:53:00.005-06:002012-01-23T21:01:14.750-06:00sausages!we received a meat grinder for xmas (this one) and last night made some sausages!the recipe was for a Romanian Jewish beef sausage. we had most stuff on hand, except beef suet, so we used lamb suet instead. and guess what -- it tastes like gyros. really tasty gyros.no casings on our first try, we made patties and rolled up a few, seen in the photo.only one mishap, seems the forward/reverse zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com7tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-11383210406490911412011-12-11T11:59:00.002-06:002011-12-11T12:04:09.658-06:00a cat's recoverythe gf has two cats. when we started dating, over 4 years ago, her cat Smokey was large, inactive, and was unable to navigate the stairs to the 2nd floor.over time, and with a diet change (removal of grains), Smokey has lost weight, become more active (i've even seen her run at times), and frequently changes floors. it seems her previous life was not without damage, as she takes stairs slowly andzimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-88485748503976955862011-11-27T15:37:00.004-06:002011-11-27T15:55:38.665-06:00vanilla chocolate chunk ice creamthis was the 2nd batch in a week, with some modifications to improve upon the first (and double the yield, since the first batch was small). preliminary taste tests indicate success; i'll wait for an overnight freeze for the real test.dairy for this batch was not as top-notch as the first, but it seems to have worked out.1 cup heavy cream2 c. whole milk3 c. half and half3/4 c. sugar2 pinches zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-43537684485397226742011-09-17T21:26:00.002-05:002011-09-17T21:32:26.881-05:00the Polish chicken donerin Krakow, on a day with a big lunch, we opted for a light, easy supper: a shared chicken doner sandwich around the corner from the hotel.into the pita went a reasonable amount of shaved chicken, a whopping amount of cabbage, some tomatoes/onions, and a mixed sauce of yoghurt and "hot" that looked like 1000 island dressing."wow," i thought, "that's a lot of cabbage."happily, given that there was zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-54334781166709415542011-09-10T09:57:00.003-05:002011-09-10T10:10:31.083-05:00traveling lightthis was the lightest i've packed for a (nearly) 2 week trip, taking only my MEI* purple backpack.i normally take a slightly larger Kelty backpack -- main body is about the same size, but it has a couple wings. the difference is enough where i can reasonably carry-on the MEI, but no the Kelty.this was an experiment. it mostly worked well, but there was no room to spare. my rain jacket and thickerzimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-31812758261264336682011-09-10T08:10:00.003-05:002011-09-10T08:23:04.574-05:00car 14, where are you?there's a lot to love about Polish rail.you get your typical (mostly) on-time European performance. the stations have reasonable signage and platform information. it's cheap -- three intercity trips for three people, in first class, came to under $300 USD total.but it gets better. there is a generous mix of new carriage and (very) old, depending on the line/route. i traveled with my mom and my gfzimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-11890340399403538222011-07-30T20:13:00.003-05:002011-07-30T20:18:03.604-05:00delicious tomatoes, for realthis spring, we joined the CSA program from Tomato Mountain. this week, the first of the tomatoes come in. in addition to three (3) [yes, only three] red tomatoes, we received a basket of these smaller, orange tomatoes.they are delicious! i'm hoping for bushels of red tomatoes in the coming weeks -- i'll get out my food mill and make some sauces for the winter.zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-3302786485230708022011-06-19T14:29:00.003-05:002011-06-19T14:41:29.532-05:00delicious tomatoesthis is enough to put me off tomatoes of unknown origin.The tomato fields of Immokalee are vast and surreal. An unplanted field looks like a lousy beach: the “soil,” which is white sand, contains little in the way of nutrients and won’t hold any water. To grow tomatoes there requires mind-boggling amounts of fertilizers, fungicides and pesticides (on roughly the same acreage of tomatoes, Florida zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-84194754092456826102011-05-29T12:38:00.005-05:002011-05-29T14:06:06.797-05:00AIM HIGH media takeaway: don't take niacinin the news this week: niacin study stopped early after lack of benefit found, and perhaps even negative benefit found.e.g. this MSNBC headline states, "Niacin doesn't stop heart attacks, major study finds"i read the press release. The second sentence of the press release is:The trial found that adding high dose, extended-release niacin to statin treatment in people with heart and vascular zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-48182197970313585622011-05-21T11:02:00.001-05:002011-05-21T11:03:39.746-05:00a physics jokeEinstein walks ten miles to a party. When he arrives, the host says, "wow, you spent a lot of energy getting here."Einstein replies, "es machts nicht."zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-27375327129030296902011-04-16T19:43:00.005-05:002011-04-16T20:17:25.053-05:00we're gonna xooma xooma, xoom xoom xoommere days after telling my boss that between my iphone and macbook pro, i have no need for a tablet, all employees were presented with Motorola Xooms (oops).this is not only my first experience with a tablet, other than a few minutes with an ipad, but it's also my first experience with Android. the xoom comes with a version called Honeycomb, which i'm told is new and designed with tablets in zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-20809990872224774902011-03-22T11:31:00.004-05:002011-03-22T12:04:09.087-05:00alliteration"sweet sixteen""final four"i'm sorry, but "elite eight" is not an alliteration, and it sounds forced and a little clumsy. either make it actually alliterative ("able eight"?) or just make it better without the alliteration ("great eight").unless we're going to carry it all the way down ("terrific two"? "wonderful one"?), feel free to break out of the literary device.zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-33626253444077490632011-03-13T13:14:00.010-05:002011-03-13T13:47:40.305-05:00i am in awe of the GOPi am in awe of the GOP, for mostly two reasons. first is their ability to consistently get people to vote against their own interests. second is their ability to control the debate and get their way, even when in the minority.the recent events in Wisconsin and Michigan highlight recent brazen attempts at power grabs and attacks on democrats' power bases that underscore what i see as outright zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-6972323160146179105.post-39078442250425585952011-03-10T23:06:00.003-06:002011-03-10T23:09:48.691-06:00the ideology of dogsShelley Boyle says having a vegan food option for her dog, Cleo, allows them to share the same ideology.oy, ve.can we get a quote from the dog, please?zimhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05072367389475963710noreply@blogger.com4