Sunday, November 16, 2008: Home D: Magento
We had dinner with Cassandra Sotos from Sotos Enterprises, a client, friend and all around interesting person. We went over the back end of the website that Troy and Nick are building for her. Included in it is a back end called Magento. It will help her manage inventory when she is a massive success.
The store front is currently up and you can check it out here, sotosonline.com. It looks great even though there is a bunch of greeking where actual text should be.
As for Magento… I thought it was pretty robust for open source coding. Not that I have a lot of experience with coding, but of the stuff that Nick and Troy have made me look at, this one is pretty cool and I think that it will serve Cassandra well.
When I asked Troy for the url and if it was ok to post, Troy said, "they can sign up for the fucking newsletter". So, sign up for the fucking newsletter and keep up to date with what Cassandra is selling.
Oh, and if you happen to read this Cassandra, "Good luck. You are awesome!"
Tuesday, December 9, 2008
Day307 - That's a big box of balls
Sunday, November 2, 2008: Walmart: Pop Corn Balls
Last year, all I wanted after Holloween was a pop corn ball and every place sold out of them before I could get around to getting some. I actually chased some women down in walmart to ask here where the hell she got her boxes (she had 3 in her cart) and then went directly to the skid of lowly balls left. I picked up two 18-pack boxes.
I then saw many other people looking at my cart forlornly throughout the rest of our shopping trip. They, however, did not have the balls (ha!) to ask me where I got mine. The other shoppers just looked kind of sad as memories of childhoood popcorn ball disappointment played behind their eyes.
As a kid, I always wondered "Who the hell wants to eat a popcorn ball?" or worse yet, the dreaded Mary-Jane. No, being too old to enjoy the snickers and milky way, I now love pop corn balls and mary janes. And I have an otherworldly love for Werther Originals that seems to increase with age.
Although my dentist just told me I have to give up all of the above if I want to keep my teeth forever. Proof of my oldness.
Last year, all I wanted after Holloween was a pop corn ball and every place sold out of them before I could get around to getting some. I actually chased some women down in walmart to ask here where the hell she got her boxes (she had 3 in her cart) and then went directly to the skid of lowly balls left. I picked up two 18-pack boxes.
I then saw many other people looking at my cart forlornly throughout the rest of our shopping trip. They, however, did not have the balls (ha!) to ask me where I got mine. The other shoppers just looked kind of sad as memories of childhoood popcorn ball disappointment played behind their eyes.
As a kid, I always wondered "Who the hell wants to eat a popcorn ball?" or worse yet, the dreaded Mary-Jane. No, being too old to enjoy the snickers and milky way, I now love pop corn balls and mary janes. And I have an otherworldly love for Werther Originals that seems to increase with age.
Although my dentist just told me I have to give up all of the above if I want to keep my teeth forever. Proof of my oldness.
Day320 - I will fall less.
Saturday, November 15, 2008: TJ Maxx: Winter Spikes
I am in a furious hunt for a new hoodie. Mine looks like it was chewed my moths and left for dead. I went to TJ Maxx because the last really good hoodie I bought, and subsequently ruined, was from there. I found no hoodie worthy of my destruction, but I did find these.
It is a set of slip on spikes for any flat soled shoe. In theory, this should make me fall down less. Part of the theory is that I will remember to put them on before we leave the house. Recently, I did not remember to put them on and proceeded to fall down a mountain while looking for a Christmas Tree. For those keeping score at home, that would mean that I have fallen 2 of the last 4 years while on the hunt for a tree.
I am in a furious hunt for a new hoodie. Mine looks like it was chewed my moths and left for dead. I went to TJ Maxx because the last really good hoodie I bought, and subsequently ruined, was from there. I found no hoodie worthy of my destruction, but I did find these.
It is a set of slip on spikes for any flat soled shoe. In theory, this should make me fall down less. Part of the theory is that I will remember to put them on before we leave the house. Recently, I did not remember to put them on and proceeded to fall down a mountain while looking for a Christmas Tree. For those keeping score at home, that would mean that I have fallen 2 of the last 4 years while on the hunt for a tree.
Day319 - It is meant for burritos, not shot glasses.
Friday, November 14, 2008: Mad Mex: hummus and bad ideas.
Maura is a very lovely girl that I used to work with, and this weekend she came up for a visit with her fiance to see Nikko (Jess' cat), Nittany Lions and Happy Valley.
On Friday night, Troy and I met a bunch of people from work for dinner at Mad Mex. I love their margaritas, but have a major problem having just one. I had two. Then thought doing a shot of hot sauce for a buck was a good idea. Shots are never a good idea - which i magically seem to forget until after I do the shot.
Pretty girls Crystal and Sarah
I have a few pictures of Jess making this face at Troy. It's their "thing." I should post them in succession someday.
Troy, Jess, the future Mrs. & Mr.
Pre-shot with Tequila eyes.
Post shot - not so funny. It was really very gross and not recommended.
Jess wanted to play Cranium afterwards, but I was feeling a little under the weather (read drunk), and went to bed at 10 p.m. Sleeping off a margarita is a hobby of mine.
Maura is a very lovely girl that I used to work with, and this weekend she came up for a visit with her fiance to see Nikko (Jess' cat), Nittany Lions and Happy Valley.
On Friday night, Troy and I met a bunch of people from work for dinner at Mad Mex. I love their margaritas, but have a major problem having just one. I had two. Then thought doing a shot of hot sauce for a buck was a good idea. Shots are never a good idea - which i magically seem to forget until after I do the shot.
Pretty girls Crystal and Sarah
I have a few pictures of Jess making this face at Troy. It's their "thing." I should post them in succession someday.
Troy, Jess, the future Mrs. & Mr.
Pre-shot with Tequila eyes.
Post shot - not so funny. It was really very gross and not recommended.
Jess wanted to play Cranium afterwards, but I was feeling a little under the weather (read drunk), and went to bed at 10 p.m. Sleeping off a margarita is a hobby of mine.
Day318 - Move your head!
Thursday, November 13, 2008: State Theatre: Wolf Parade/Listening Party
We went to the State Theatre again tonight to watch the muzac. I was not familiar with either band, but I do love Original Live Music so I was eager to go.
I really kinda fell for Listening Party. We came in late into their set but it was enough time to become enamored. The weirdest part - the lead singer looks like our friend Jason.
It kind of blew my mind a little.
Troy was the tallest guy in our aisle, and the chicks in back of us got bummed out and moved their seats. I was later repaid the favor when this tall dude screwed up the ONE really clear picture I took.
Thanks guy.
Wolf Parade is from Canada and just might be the nicest band that I've ever seen. So polite! Also, very good.
The audience was probably 80% dude. And young dudes at that. It was so funny to see a theatre full of guys with stars in their eyes for other guys. Cute, but weird.
We were late to the show because we stopped for dinner and a beer at Pickles. I had this grilled cheese panini with some fancy, elitist cheeses and I think pesto. A little pricey, but good.
We went to the State Theatre again tonight to watch the muzac. I was not familiar with either band, but I do love Original Live Music so I was eager to go.
I really kinda fell for Listening Party. We came in late into their set but it was enough time to become enamored. The weirdest part - the lead singer looks like our friend Jason.
It kind of blew my mind a little.
Troy was the tallest guy in our aisle, and the chicks in back of us got bummed out and moved their seats. I was later repaid the favor when this tall dude screwed up the ONE really clear picture I took.
Thanks guy.
Wolf Parade is from Canada and just might be the nicest band that I've ever seen. So polite! Also, very good.
The audience was probably 80% dude. And young dudes at that. It was so funny to see a theatre full of guys with stars in their eyes for other guys. Cute, but weird.
We were late to the show because we stopped for dinner and a beer at Pickles. I had this grilled cheese panini with some fancy, elitist cheeses and I think pesto. A little pricey, but good.
Day317 - Embarrassment of hugeness.
Wednesday, November 12, 2008: My office: New iMac
My new iMac arrived today from Cupertino. And it is HUGE.
That is next to my Core Duo 17" iMac I bought about 20 months ago. Although it was lighting fast when I got it, i only had 9 gigs of hard drive left (from 150 gigs) and was slagging some. My new guy is 24 iMac Core 2 Duo and is larger than the TV I had up until about 9 months ago. I will be in debt for it for some time, but because I bought it from the refurb section of apple.com, I only paid about $100 more than I paid for the 17". I did have to buy more RAM for it, but again, in the end I saved money by ordering from a 3rd party. RAM is way cheaper now than it was 20 months ago and I currently have 4 Gigs making my new iMac super speedy.
Truthfully, this thing is embarrassing and if I did something else today except fawn all over it, I wouldn't be writing about it. I im'd Troy and said that it was giving me low self-esteem because of it's hugeness and he laughed and said I was overreacting. I wish I would have taken a picture of his face when he walked in the door and yelled "Holy Shit!"
But I agree with him in the long run: I work for myself and this was not some vanity purchase. I am only as good as my tools, and with the world going to shit, I better have kick-ass tools to make kick-ass money.
My new iMac arrived today from Cupertino. And it is HUGE.
That is next to my Core Duo 17" iMac I bought about 20 months ago. Although it was lighting fast when I got it, i only had 9 gigs of hard drive left (from 150 gigs) and was slagging some. My new guy is 24 iMac Core 2 Duo and is larger than the TV I had up until about 9 months ago. I will be in debt for it for some time, but because I bought it from the refurb section of apple.com, I only paid about $100 more than I paid for the 17". I did have to buy more RAM for it, but again, in the end I saved money by ordering from a 3rd party. RAM is way cheaper now than it was 20 months ago and I currently have 4 Gigs making my new iMac super speedy.
Truthfully, this thing is embarrassing and if I did something else today except fawn all over it, I wouldn't be writing about it. I im'd Troy and said that it was giving me low self-esteem because of it's hugeness and he laughed and said I was overreacting. I wish I would have taken a picture of his face when he walked in the door and yelled "Holy Shit!"
But I agree with him in the long run: I work for myself and this was not some vanity purchase. I am only as good as my tools, and with the world going to shit, I better have kick-ass tools to make kick-ass money.
Day208 -
Monday, November 3, 2008: My kitchen: Squash Soup
La Bella's down the street from us made what was probably the best squash soup I have ever had. I tried it tonight, and it came out ok, but not nearly as good as I hoped.
I started with this Acorn squash that was tough as nails. I'm lucky I did not loose a finger for real.
I browned it with some garlic and then added chicken stock and cream of coconut and ginger. This is where I fucked up. I should have added coconut milk, not the much sweeter cream of coconut, but I was not paying attention while digging things out of the closet. This made it too sweet.
It smelled great. When Troy came in the door he was psyched. It kind of smelled like Indian Pavillion.
I got to use this neat stick blender someone gave us. I've always wanted to make a soup that needed to be blended and today was the day.
Voila! A thick and creamy soup that was just a little too sweet for me.
I also made these little loafs of soda bread - the easier bread in the world to make. This isn't your traditional soda bread with raisins and sweetness. This is a plain loaf of bread suitable for dipping is soup. I think it only contains flour, buttermilk (I used milk with lemon juice), baking powder and some salt. It was really easy. I found a good looking recipe for authentic soda bread and will making that in the future.
La Bella's down the street from us made what was probably the best squash soup I have ever had. I tried it tonight, and it came out ok, but not nearly as good as I hoped.
I started with this Acorn squash that was tough as nails. I'm lucky I did not loose a finger for real.
I browned it with some garlic and then added chicken stock and cream of coconut and ginger. This is where I fucked up. I should have added coconut milk, not the much sweeter cream of coconut, but I was not paying attention while digging things out of the closet. This made it too sweet.
It smelled great. When Troy came in the door he was psyched. It kind of smelled like Indian Pavillion.
I got to use this neat stick blender someone gave us. I've always wanted to make a soup that needed to be blended and today was the day.
Voila! A thick and creamy soup that was just a little too sweet for me.
I also made these little loafs of soda bread - the easier bread in the world to make. This isn't your traditional soda bread with raisins and sweetness. This is a plain loaf of bread suitable for dipping is soup. I think it only contains flour, buttermilk (I used milk with lemon juice), baking powder and some salt. It was really easy. I found a good looking recipe for authentic soda bread and will making that in the future.
Day309 - Mr. Obama goes to Washington
Tuesday, November 4, 2008: New President
I am, of course, writing this entry about a month later than it actually happened and I also am doing so with a clearly faulty memory. Even so, I will try to relate a little about that day and night.
Troy and I voted early in the morning. I was in fact #50 at my local polling place and only had to wait for about 30 seconds to actually vote. Troy cast his before me while I used a Benninghoff pen a nice older gentleman handed to me on our way in the polling place.
I remember all my friends excitedly telling me when they voted, giving updates on the polling place lines if there were any. Most we optimistic - even if it was guarded optimism. Everyone had already come up with a back-up plan, listing all the countries that would take them if their candidate would loose.
That night, Troy and I went to Anna's first birthday party and watched the initial vote tally while watching kids toddle around the living room. I spent the 2004 election in that living room, and I remember clearly leaving there with hope that Kerry could pull through even though I wouldn't find out definitely that he would not until the next morning. Ohio became a 4-letter word.
After the party we came back to our little living room and Troy and I watched the returns, switching from MSNBC to CNN, wonkette.com to daily kos to fivethirtyeight.com. It was simultaneously electric and terrifying. Our local candidates did not do so well, but other candidates that I donated to across the country faired a better.
Troy was in and out of sleep by the time Obama came to give his acceptance speech. I cried. My friends cried. I received loads and loads of text with "I've never been so proud!" and "Thank god!" and "I'm crying!" It was wonderful. I talked with Yana video iChat and we were so excited about the future.
I am still excited about the future.
But I still have a little bit of a guard up. Can we really hope - especially when our country has gone to shit so fast? I want to hope, and I continue to do so even if I'm not a fan of all of Obama's cabinet appointments. I still believe that we as a country can be better than what we are right now. What we have been in the past. If Obama can do that - then I will stop looking for real estate in Canada.
I am, of course, writing this entry about a month later than it actually happened and I also am doing so with a clearly faulty memory. Even so, I will try to relate a little about that day and night.
Troy and I voted early in the morning. I was in fact #50 at my local polling place and only had to wait for about 30 seconds to actually vote. Troy cast his before me while I used a Benninghoff pen a nice older gentleman handed to me on our way in the polling place.
I remember all my friends excitedly telling me when they voted, giving updates on the polling place lines if there were any. Most we optimistic - even if it was guarded optimism. Everyone had already come up with a back-up plan, listing all the countries that would take them if their candidate would loose.
That night, Troy and I went to Anna's first birthday party and watched the initial vote tally while watching kids toddle around the living room. I spent the 2004 election in that living room, and I remember clearly leaving there with hope that Kerry could pull through even though I wouldn't find out definitely that he would not until the next morning. Ohio became a 4-letter word.
After the party we came back to our little living room and Troy and I watched the returns, switching from MSNBC to CNN, wonkette.com to daily kos to fivethirtyeight.com. It was simultaneously electric and terrifying. Our local candidates did not do so well, but other candidates that I donated to across the country faired a better.
Troy was in and out of sleep by the time Obama came to give his acceptance speech. I cried. My friends cried. I received loads and loads of text with "I've never been so proud!" and "Thank god!" and "I'm crying!" It was wonderful. I talked with Yana video iChat and we were so excited about the future.
I am still excited about the future.
But I still have a little bit of a guard up. Can we really hope - especially when our country has gone to shit so fast? I want to hope, and I continue to do so even if I'm not a fan of all of Obama's cabinet appointments. I still believe that we as a country can be better than what we are right now. What we have been in the past. If Obama can do that - then I will stop looking for real estate in Canada.
Day310 - You shot me in the eye!
Wednesday, November 5, 2008: Our house: Nerf Wars
So, today we bought Nerf guns. This is my very first nerf gun of my own and I think that I picked the best that they had.
It is the Tek Six. Troy is shown here using the far inferior "Maverick." Silly Maverick - didn't you learn anything yesterday?
Somehow, our house has sucked up all of the extra nerfs that we bought and we currently have 15 between the two of us.
So, today we bought Nerf guns. This is my very first nerf gun of my own and I think that I picked the best that they had.
It is the Tek Six. Troy is shown here using the far inferior "Maverick." Silly Maverick - didn't you learn anything yesterday?
Somehow, our house has sucked up all of the extra nerfs that we bought and we currently have 15 between the two of us.
Day311 - Bangers and Mash
Thursday, November 6, 2008: My office: Yogurt
Can you tell that I am at the end of my rope. At day 315 I am eating new yogurt. And I didn't even take a picture of it myself! I am tired of the new.
I tried this today. It's not so great! It seems like it should be good but it just kind of tastes like the low fat version of something that actually is good. Which it is, but still.
Can you tell that I am at the end of my rope. At day 315 I am eating new yogurt. And I didn't even take a picture of it myself! I am tired of the new.
I tried this today. It's not so great! It seems like it should be good but it just kind of tastes like the low fat version of something that actually is good. Which it is, but still.
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