Category: Idle

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Idle

Finally, some real jeans

I can still remember getting new jeans when I was a little kid. Toughskins. They were constructed from some sort of advanced ballistic denim that would, until washed, stand on their own. Over time they would soften, but they took all the abuse a 5 year-old could muster (including my rigorous tire swing test).

These days people are impatient. Jeans come pre-washed, pre-shrunk and pre-distressed. Bring a fresh pair of jeans home from the store today and they already look like they’ve been worn and loved for several years… but you’re lucky if you can get them to last several months.Toughskins were a blend of cotton, polyester and a grade of nylon used primarily in duffle bags. While I do long for their durability, I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t want to wear them today.

Thankfully, Levi’s is paying attention and agrees you shouldn’t have to throw out your jeans faster than you can change the size of your waist.  Levi’s Hesher jeans don’t have belt sander-induced faux wear marks or accelerated pseudo-fading via advanced chemical acid/stone washes and aren’t softened by beating them with baby seals. They are just an honest, solid pair of blue jeans.

No, I’m not going all teenage girl on you. I’m not going to start posting YouTube reviews of the latest thing I brought home from the mall. For me clothing is a necessary tool. I don’t enjoy clothes shopping. I REALY don’t enjoy spending money on clothes. This is, however, one of the rare times I’ve actually been pleased at having purchased textiles.

Never fear, I reserve the remainder of my purchasing excitement for anything labeled “quad-core” or measured in “giga”.

Categories
Idle

Everything is better with bacon (yes, cupcakes too)

It seems that this year I’m becoming increasingly obsessed with bacon. When Dick comes to town we inevitably go to Lot no. 3 for a Plate ‘O Bacon. If Paula and I hit up Sunday Happy hour at John Howie it’s hard to resist the tempura bacon.

Now, as it happens, I’m also obsessed with cupcakes (and apparently not obsessed with eating healthy). You can imagine how pleased I was to head over to New York Cupcakes on Saturday morning to pick up a pair of Papa B’s Maple Bacon "breakfast" cupcakes.

"What, pray tell,"  you ask "is a Papa B’s?"

This a a baked cinnamon/vanilla French Toast cupcake topped with Vermont maple whipped buttercream and topped with candied baked bacon.

Don’t even bother asking if it’s delicious, I won’t answer. Mamma taught me not to obsess with my mouth full.

Categories
Idle

Compact

Perhaps it’s a little redundant… but it’s certainly clear.

Categories
Idle

Microwave popcorn that’s just popcorn

popcorn

Think back to the last time you microwaved popcorn. Remember what the kitchen smelled like after you were done? Sure it tastes great, but take a look at the ingredients on the box… it may explain the smell. 🙂

So tonight when Paula and I were craving popcorn we decided to try out Squawkfox’s DIY microwave popcorn recipe (found via LifeHacker). Instead of partially-hydrogenated, artificially flavored popcorn food, we had popcorn. Yes, we ate unprocessed food and it was delicious.

The formula is pretty simple: toss a cup of popping corn into a brown paper lunch bag, fold the top down a couple times and nuke for 3 minutes. When done, season to taste and enjoy.

We found it to be simple and delicious, but have a couple of notes to add:
1. It took 4 minutes in our weak little microwave, not 3 (your mileage my vary, but don’t go too long, you may burn it).
2. One cup of pop corn kernels generated a lot of popcorn (at least 1.5 times what we normally get from a typical bag of microwave popcorn). We’re going to use a half cup next time.

All-in-all, we were super pleased. Paula’s review: "I’m certainly never buying another box of microwave popcorn again!"

I’m with Paula on this, without a doubt. I’m certain it’s better for us. It’s clearly less expensive. And the best part: our kitchen doesn’t smell nasty afterwards.

Categories
Idle

Context ruins fun

Zach and I were talking about some SharePoint features for the next version (v5 for those of you playing along at home). At some point I asked Zach “Could we make SharePoint do [blah]?” His reply was this gem:

“I’m going to have to go think about how the Internet works.”

Yeah, he said other stuff, I’m sure it was smart stuff, but I can’t be entirely sure as my mind had already gone gleefully skipping off into a flowering meadow of happiness, delighting itself with images of Zach sitting around, thinking about the inner workings of the interwebs.

Zach continued on, trying in vain to pass on just a fraction of his coding knowledge. Meanwhile, I was imagining the next version of SharePoint and how it would be powered by the stuff that makes the Internet work: kittens and Rick Astley.

Categories
Life

So… feeling good about your childhood?

When I was ten years old I could make a small jump out of snow and ride my bike over it. I was also pretty good at following Lego directions.

Yuto Miyazawa, on the other hand, plays guitar. Here’s Miyazawa-san tearing up Crazy Train on stage with Ozzy Osbourne.

 

Just so you know… the jump I made was really, really awesome.

Categories
Life

A couple box packing tips

When a release is finished at Microsoft people pull their heads out of their current product and frequently move around between teams (and that means packing up your office to head to a new location). Watching professional movers pack my house for the move to and from Ireland did teach me a little about moving. There are two biggie tips, however, that stood out.

Tape your boxes the wrong way first

Going from flat cardboard to a box can be awkward with one person. It’s not tremendously hard to assemble a box, but if you want it to be nice and square you can speed the process by running the first piece of tape perpendicular to the seam.

IMAG0068 (2)

Align the bottom flaps and run a piece of tape across the bottom of the box and it will be held closed and aligned while you tape the seam.

Pack your boxes on top of other boxes

The first tip will save you a little time, but this second tip will save your back. No matter how careful you are, moving is tiring and often hard on your back.

IMAG0069 (2)

Once you have a box or two packed, put your next empty box on top of your packed boxes. Loading this top box will be much easier as you won’t be bending down to put items in the bottom of the box. You should, of course, protect your back from the beginning and start your first box on a chair.

Combo bonus!

I recommend combining the two tips and build your new boxes on top of the other boxes (see first picture). Constructing your fresh box on a raised pedestal will preserving your back even when you’re straining to lift your collection of dolls action figures.

Watch what you eat

Not really a packing tip per se, but the logo on the bottom of the packing boxes did make me worry that if I’m not careful I might die of dysentery.

IMAG0070 (2)

Categories
Home

Resource Furniture: the Q of interior design

This furniture is just way too cool. I just need an excuse to move into a 200 square foot New York loft.

You expect me to talk? No Mr. Bond, I expect you to sleep.

 

I want this Bed/Desk combo for my office:

image image

via: core77

Categories
Life

Take a trip, you’ll be happier

The New York Times published an interesting article this weekend about money and happiness. Sure, it’s filled with the usual “money can’t buy happiness” stories and tales of self discovery. I think it’s stuff we all know deep down inside but are good at repressing (Gizmodo hasn’t made me happy yet… but it’s my Ike Turner).

But wait, what’s this? If you dig deep enough you’ll find this little gem:

Thomas DeLeire, an associate professor of public affairs, population, health and economics at the University of Wisconsin in Madison, recently published research examining nine major categories of consumption. He discovered that the only category to be positively related to happiness was leisure: vacations, entertainment, sports and equipment like golf clubs and fishing poles.

Now there’s some useful investment advice. It’s time to re-order my priorities.

Sure, a new computer sounds great… but schnitzel in Austria sounds wonderful right now.

Categories
TV

QI, c’mon BBC, share a little

imageWhile I miss my coworkers from Dublin, Irish breakfasts, and the Dropping Well… what I miss most from Ireland is getting the full breadth for BBC programming. Sure, as with US programming, there are plenty of duds, but I miss being able to watch Top Gear without a several month delay and the best quiz show ever:  the ridiculously funny (and, of course, Interesting) QI.

The premise of QI is: create a quiz show filled with impossibly hard questions, stock the contestant chairs with comedians & celebrities and then don’t worry about having the answers be right or even on topic. By rewarding the guests for answers which are "interesting" and allowing the conversation to wander far from the original question you are bound to get amusing stories and random facts which are, of course, quite interesting.

imageLast week I was reminded of how much I miss Stephen Fry when Paula happened across re-runs of Stephen Fry in America running on PBS. Here’s the thing: Mr. Fry’s father was offered a job at Princeton University but, since he turned it down, Stephen feels he was almost an American. But all of this is beside the point because BBC America is an anemic substitute for the BBC and is holding back the best content: specifically QI.

All of this has, however, made me realize why it’s actually interesting for me to be able to watch YouTube on my TiVo: episodes of Qi. A generous YouTuber (YouTubista?) has kindly squirreled away episodes (all the way back to the pilot).

Thank goodness the BBC hasn’t figured out how to advertise to the US in their web videos (they block non-UK viewers) because otherwise I might feel guilty not giving revenue where it’s due.

Also I couldn’t watch the videos on my TV. And, as has already been widely recognized, it is all about me.