Gritty art

Sand sculpture has fascinated me ever since my youthful days walking on the boardwalk in the summer at Seaside Heights, New Jersey. Here's a site that showcases a fantastic sand sculpture contest in Harrison Hot Springs, BC.

Start at the link, then try here for more pictures.

Toothpick trick

Can anyone verify that this trick works? the idea is that with a drop of water you can turn this arrangement of toothpicks into a star shape without ever touching them. This would be a cool bar trick if it did.

We can do better....

I think I'm liking this new site I found by accident - Be Better Guys. It's got tips on how to be a better woman (I'm just goofing around), such as grooming tips, cooking tips, dressing tips, etc. I liked the tip on fragrance:

The basic rule is that if someone who's 5 feet or more away can smell you, you've put too much on

The site doesn't have a ton of material yet, but it looks promising.

Droooooool...........

It turns out that our saliva has pain killing properties. I always did have this intuition to put saliva on a wound whenever I got hurt - there may be something to that instinct after all. Full article here. Is this what mom meant when she offered to kiss it better?

Lasagna - real easy like

I loves me a good lasagna. Darlene taught me to make it myself, as I do not like ricotta cheese in mine - thank you very much. So let me impart unto you, my easy lasagna recipe.

You'll need almost a pound of ground beef; about a full jar of Prego (or your favourite pre-made tomato sauce); those express lasagna noodles that cook in the oven; and a package of shredded mozza.

Start by browning and draining the ground beef. Once it's done, add the tomato sauce. I like to use Prego Tomato Onion & Garlic because it's got all the ingredients I need in the right combination. It only suffers from one small problem. It's too thick. This is easy to deal with. Nine times out of ten, I'm using a half empty jar of the stuff, so I empty it into the saucepan and rinse the jar out with a few ounces of warm water. This not only gets the rest of the sauce out, but adds the water I need to lubricate the sauce a bit. If it's the consistency you'd normally want for spaghetti, it's good to go, otherwise just add some water until it feels right. So we simmer that for a little while, meanwhile we get our lasagna pan out and grease it. When the sauce is ready, we start with a layer of sauce, then a layer of noodle, then more sauce, noodle, etc. The trick is to completely wet each noodle layer - both sides. My lasagna ends up looking something like sauce/ noodle/ sauce/ noodle/ sauce/ cheese/ noodle/ sauce/ lots of cheese (cross-section listed from bottom to top). If your sauce runs out or you find there are gaps between the layers and the sides of the pan, I just open more sauce (one can never have too much Prego around) and pour it directly down the sides. You want everything fully submerged. Pop that sucker into a 350 degree oven and bake for an hour. Serves 2-3. This is not a runny lasagna, because much of the liquid is absorbed by the noodles. Just the way I likes it.

Pic from StrauAYer.

The power of cupcakes

Everyone loves a good dessert. Or just a sweet bite to eat. Which is why cinnamon bun outlets do so well. But I have noticed in the last year, both in my travels to various American cities and now even in my homeland where donuts are king - the emergence of cupcakes as a fast treat option. So much so that there are stores that specialize in cupcakes. Here in Calgary, there is a such a place in the Kensington area, called Crave Cookies and Cupcakes. I spotted it a few days ago while Darlene was off shopping at the Cat's Pyjamas. The lineup was long. I decided to step inside to see what all the fuss was about. I wasn't in the mood to actually wait for an opportunity to buy some cupcakes, so I asked the woman at the back of the line, "Are they really worth it?" She made it very clear that the cupcakes were indeed worth the trouble. I asked if they were the kind with the hard crunchy icing or the soft, creamy icing and she assured me it was the latter. Darlene told me later that she had heard the cupcakes sell so well, often times they sell out completely, long before the end of the business day. I vowed to myself that I would come back and sample their wares. I especially have my eye on the A Lovely Bunch of Coconuts variety (as pictured).....

Cupcakes! $2.65 each! Or $14.95 for 6. Isn't that like a license to print money? If you're interested in finding a cupcake store near you, just consult this site. I'm sure it's not a complete list, but it's a starting point.

Round 3 of where is it?

This one might be a bit harder. Where in the world is this? City is all that's required.

A topical comic

Click the picture for the bigger (readable) view.

Don't expect perfection from PC utilities

I have a few computer clients as well as an online troubleshooting forum I frequent that have been asking a common question of late. The question usually goes something like: "Why is my PC utility screwing up my computer so that now program X and Y don't work properly anymore?"

Pretty much every I'll fix up your computer automatically even though you could do it better yourself utility, is designed to try to be all things to all people on all computers in every configuration. It's a fool's errand. Everyone's setup is different and the folks who wrote the software could not possibly anticipate what configuration exists on every PC. So when a generic program runs on a not-so-generic configuration, stuff happens. These utilities tend toward the aggressive side, meaning that files that should have otherwise been left alone are deleted. Same goes for registry entries. The program looks for registry data that seems orphaned and non-essential. But not every program on every computer follows proper registry protocol. So in a perfect world, these utilities would work fine. You know how the rest goes......

Let me try an analogy. If you hired a robot to clean your home, but the robot is not programmed to watch out for your prized collection of German beer steins - stuff's gonna get broken.
(no - that did not happen to me, I just have an active imagination)

You'll get much better results learning how to do the things utilities do...... yourself - manually. This is why I will never use any monstrosity like Norton Internet Security, Window Washer, or any other program that offers Cadillac features when all that is called for is Smart car functionality.

Do you like chocolate?

If you love chocolate but are a bit uninspired by the traditional consumer grade bar sold in most stores these days, I urge you to find a place that sells Ritter Sport. These chocolate bars are made in Germany. They taste much better, richer than your average North American bar. Each bar is 100grams of pure chocolate pleasure. My favourite up until now has been the Whole Hazelnuts (in milk chocolate or in dark chocolate - even better). But very recently they introduced 2 new bars. Darlene tried the Dark Chocolate a la Mousse au Chocolate (in other words - it's dark chocolate with a mousse center) and I bought the Amargo Extrafino (fine extra dark chocolate 71% cocoa). Neither of these 2 new offerings are on their web site yet, in fact the best display of Ritter Sport's wares seems to be at this site - although the products displayed there are in the European packaging. But these new ones are available in some stores. We found ours in Banff. You might be able to find them in Calgary at the Edelweiss Village on 20th Ave NW.

Where is this - again

OK, how about this one? Where is it? City is all that's required, but bonus if you can guess the spot.

Rhymes with "they drank"

If I wore a t-shirt with the graphic pictured here, what would I be a fan of?

P.S.: One of my favourite bits lately was the League of Awesomeness Olympics (11-14-06), featuring the event - phone dancing. Did you see the size of his phone cord? Whoa.

Excuse me while I cough my coffee back up.....

This picture obviously isn't real, but isn't it funny?

In case the photo doesn't render well on your PC, it reads:
Garage Sale
Sat + Sun
6:00 to dark
1000's of left shoes
Everything must go!

All bands look the same............. in Lego

Bands made with Lego......... U2 is pictured. Other offerings include The Beatles, The White Stripes and Jimi Hendrix.

The rise of machines begins innocently enough

This was just too cute and funny not to steal. From the Wired blog Table of Malcontents (edited for brevity):

Let the robot holocaust commence: robots think we taste like bacon. Researchers at NEC System technologies and Mie University have designed "an electromechanical sommelier", capable of identifying wines, cheeses, meats and hors d'oeuvres. Upon being given a sample, he will speak up in a childlike voice and identify what he has just been fed. Some smart aleck reporter placed his hand in the robot's omnivorous clanking jaw, he was identified as bacon. A cameraman then tried and was identified as prosciutto. Absolutely horrifying. Once robots taste blood, their hunger for human flesh can never be satiated.

New game - where is this?

Alright all you geography nerds. I have a new game for you to play. I post a picture of a place on earth and you guess where it is. City name is all that's required. We'll start off easy.

Answer in the comments and good luck.

Hmmmm....... smells fishy

We received an invitiation in the mail the other day from an organization called "Television Preview", out of Hollywood California. The deal is we're suposed to go to the Delta Hotel downtown for a screening to "evaluate not-yet released television material that is being considered for nationwide broadcast". Sounds sort of innocent enough, no?

No is right. First off, the people at Television Preview better hope that their intended audience have never heard of the internet. Because a quick search of their business turns up result after result of what these fraudsters are really about. If you go on their site, they're all secretive about what really goes on at these previews. That's because the material you'll be screening is stuff that's so bad, it will never get to air in the first place.

What's the point? Advertising. They want you to evaluate the ads, nothing more. More specifically, they want to see if you are influenced by ads. I don't have a problem with being asked to evaluate advertising - just be honest about it. Don't make me go out in the middle of winter, crowd into a hotel conference room under false pretences to watch crapola on a 27" TV just so you can ask us our opinion about a couple cheesy ads. If this company were savvy, they would just post the ads they wanted evaluated on the ........ what was that thing called again...... oh yeah, the internet. That way, I could review them from the comfort of my own home.

So if you got one of these invitations in the mail, before you embarrass yourself and two other guests of your choosing (they come as a set of 4), take a pass. It's not what you think. If you're still curious, you still don't have to go - just read what this individual said will happen.

Read the fine print

Here's something about credit cards that I did not know. Let's say you had a balance on one of your statements and you decided (on purpose or not) that you were only going to pay 'some' of the balance owing. You'd probably expect that next month, you'd have interest owing on that part of the balance you didn't pay. That's where you'd be so mistaken, my friends. Not only would they have charged you interest on the part of last month's balance you let slip, but on every purchase from this month too - even if you paid what was owing from last month and paid everything from this month in full. Plus - you'd be charged interest on next month's purchases too. Even if you paid that all off as well. You will continue to pay penalty interest on all purchases until you've made 3 months of consecutive payments in full (leaving a zero balance).

Just a tip from me to you. Just in case - you know - you were thinking of maybe letting that credit card balance slide a little over the Christmas holidays....... 18.5% adds up fast.

Do I pass the man test?

I found an article on 15 tools every home should have. Let's see how my collection rates:

The essentials:
1. Toolbox (check)
2. Hammer (check)
3. Pry bar (nope)
4. Vise-grips (those would be handy - nope)
5. Needle-nose pliers (check)
6. Screwdrivers (mixed set) (check)
7. Wire cutter/stripper (no, but I plan to get one)
8. Tape measure (16-foot) (check)
9. Electrical tester (check)
10. Reversible drill with bit set (check)
11. 1/2-inch steel chisel (isn't that what big screwdrivers are for?)
12. Utility knife (check)
13. Handsaw (check)
14. 9-inch torpedo level (two of them!)
15. Safety glasses (check)

Nice-to-haves:
1. 7-1/4-inch circular saw (check)
2. Electronic stud finder (check)
3. Carpenter's square (a who?)
4. Random orbital sander (been wanting one forever)
5. Staple gun (check)
6. Clamps (gotta get me some of these)

Bob and Rick go skinny dipping

The (federal) Liberals are trying to reinvent themselves with the selection of a new leader for the party. A Liberal myself, I have to admit that I'm not overwhelmed by any of the current hopefuls. But I was impressed nonetheless with the balls Bob Rae showed (almost literally) by appearing on the Rick Mercer Report a couple weeks ago. At the end of their fishing trip scene, Bob offers to spice up the segment, which had been rather calm and without incident. They are seen, from behind, jumping into the lake, stark freaking naked. Only in Canada would a national politician be able to lower their ego for a few moments and allow themselves to be filmed skinny dipping on national TV.

Also seen on the show in previous episodes: Prime Minister (PM) Stephen Harper making Rick a sandwich in the kitchen of the residence; PM Jean Chretien taking Rick to Harveys for a burger; and PM Paul Martin taking Rick to Canadian Tire.

Rick even has a blog......... geek!

Message to Corporations: Your customers are watching

Here's a bizarre story about a guy who gets thrown in jail for asking if the cheque he's about to deposit is real or not. End result - as the story spreads, more and more bank customers withdraw their money. Impressive.

What?

How are your ears? That is to say, are you tone deaf or can you detect tonal differences very well? This test should prove one way or the other. The picture shows how I scored. I was quite surprised, I had heard the test was very hard to score well.

We can always use more breakfast places

I had heard about this breakfast place in Quebec while I was away on one of my business trips earlier this year, but we never had the chance to go. Until now! Chez Cora's, or Cora's Breakfast & Lunch as it's known outside of Quebec, just opened its first (of many - hopefully) joint in Calgary. So what's the deal?

Cora's specializes in the early meal - they're only open until 3pm. They're known for their crepes and they tend to garnish almost every offering with lots of fresh fruit. I'm not big into the crepes, so I had your basic eggs / bacon / home fries / toast with a side of baked beans. Darlene had brioche with a huge helping of fruit, which I helped her finish, of course. It's not easy to get a healthy breakfast in most places, but Cora's makes it easy, if that's your thing. I really appreciated the fruit, if nothing else. They have real Montreal bagels, as well as other traditional Quebec offerings like cretons (a kind of pork pate to be eaten on toast).

Supposedly, they plan to open a few outlets in Calgary, which is great, because I can't be going on weekly treks to Deerfoot / 130th Ave SE every time I want breakfast out. If you live near that area, they're in that new cluster of stores near Canadian Tire and Superstore.

Darlene sent me this

I'm not a huge fan of junk joke mail, but every once in a while I get one that makes me chuckle....

Amateur

Don't know how to play the drums? Or the piano? No worries, mate - just fake it and edit the heck out of the video later.....

Ladies and gentlemen, may I present to you, the talented Lasse Gjertsen.

OK, this is funny too

This is kinda funny

What's next?

Running out of things to pierce? OK, how about your car? Check here for both front and back views

Did you hear what I just heard?

The music that is played at a restaurant (or any other place of business for that matter) plays an important role in the mood that is set in the establishment. So I always pay attention to the kind of music that is playing in the background when I go to various places and see how it makes me feel.

Just last weekend, while Darlene and I were enjoying another tasty breakfast at The Siding Cafe on 7th Ave SW (near The Hyatt), I noticed that some great slinky jazz was playing. I always wonder whether the music is just someone's CD(s) or a satellite radio station of a particular genre. I heard some Sinatra, Krall, Connick and the like. Then I heard a song I hadn't heard before. What struck me were the lyrics, nothing too bizarre if you're not really paying attention, but if you are - these were some naughty lyrics - yo! Sample:

Yes your eyes are lighted windows, there's a party goin on inside
When you look me over baby, makes my face turn cherry red
Your mouth's a roller coaster, baby I wanna take a ride
Let me buy a ticket, let me slip and slide

This is no doubt a song from the swingin' 60's, before prudish politics political correctness no longer allowed these kinds of tunes to be en vogue. I even found a blog post about Diana Dors (the singer) here (it's a little ways down the page). Here's a sample, in case you thought I made this up.

Best line read on another blog this week (so far)

Duct tape is like the Paris Hilton of hardware: it has this huge reputation, despite having never done anything useful.

Stolen, running through the shrieking detectors at the front of the store from defective yeti.