CHUBBY KID LIKES TO EAT

I don't know what I'm supposed to blog about, so I'll blog about what I know. And that only covers a few topics. Luckily, food is one of them. So, here goes...

Restaurant Review for Pho Bistro

When one is wanting some Vietnamese soup in the greater Carrollton / Farmers Branch / Lewisville area, I highly recommend Pho Bistro, on the corner of Old Denton Road and Frankford. TK and I headed there for dinner tonight, and it was when they brought out the soup that I realized I had had pho before, but just didn't know it. What a pho-paw. Heh heh.

The most enjoyable part of the evening (besides the cute waitstaff) was many hours afterwards, as my stomach digested the contents of the meal and burped accordingly. The mixture of beef, broth, basil, bean curds, lime, and jalapenos made an experience that is usually horrid quite divine. Better out the chimney than through the cellar, I always say.

Anywho, if you're in the area, check out Pho Bistro, or look them up on the interweb!

http://www.phobistro.com/

photo courtesy of http://www.panasianbiz.com/

GreaseMonkey

If you are a firefox user and use add-ons/extensions, one that you should be aware of is greasemonkey. Greasemonkey is a Firefox extension that allows you to customize the way web pages look and function. One handy script is "Folders4Gmail" which creates a folder hierarchy with labels.

Another is "remove all facebook ads" which removes banner ads as well as "sponsored" news feed and sidebar items from Facebook. These scripts may not seem very interesting at first but sometimes you can find one that you have been wishing for a long time. Greasemonkey allows you to truly customize the web how you want it.

Recently on Steve Gibson's netcast Security Now, it was brought to Steve's attention by a listener that Paypal and Doubleclick have a bit of a unsavory relationship. If you click on certain links on Paypal's website, then you are routed through Doubleclick's servers and routed back through to Paypal's website. If you are security conscious, you understand what that truly means. If you aren't, then maybe you should check out Security Now at GRC.com. Nonetheless, the good folks at techlifeweb.com have created a script to strip out the doubleclick re-route from Paypal's links.

For those with GM already installed, Google "doubleclick greasemonkey", click on the TechLifeBlogged link "nodclick.user.js" and it will install into firefox immediately. Please note that scripts can be very malicious.

Be sure you trust any scripts you install! Scripts can be very malicious if written accordingly.

Radio Lab

For all of you out there in podcast/netcast land looking for a good listen, try out RadioLab at http://www.wnyc.org/shows/radiolab.  It is a syndicated NPR show with Jad Abumrad and Robert Krulwich that discusses a myriad of topics in a very remarkable fashion.  They don’t publish a lot of shows a year via podcast however I recommend you try it out.  They have about four or so seasons via podcast or you can listen to all of their shows streaming from their website.  

 

My favorite so far is “Emergence”.

 

RECIPE: Baking Rolls with Stewie

I am a bit of an amateur bread baker. Some of my batches have come out well, some a bit heavy. I will pass along my proven recipe of garlic and sun dried tomato wheat bread later on. I ran out of the garlic/sun dried tomato mix and need to get a new batch. That way I can cook it again and also give a shout out to the vendor who makes the garlic/tomato mix.

Last weekend I tried a new baking recipe from grandma and it came out just fine. I didn't take any photos however I have included an artist's rendition to help you feel hungry. Click the link for more info.



I didn't succeed at shaping the rolls well so you will get to see them next batch.

Wheat Yeast Rolls

1 package active dry yeast
1/4 cup warm water (105 to 115 F)
3/4 cup hot milk (150 to 160 F)
3 T melted butter
3 T sugar
1 and 1/4 t Salt
1 egg, beaten
2 cups whole wheat flour
2 cups all purpose flour
1 T gluten flour (to help the batch rise a bit higher)

Prep:
Mix all of the flour and gluten flour together well. Dissolve yeast in warm water. Mix hot milk, melted butter, sugar, and salt in large mixing bowl. Cool to lukewarm (105 degrees F). Stir in yeast and beaten egg. Add 2 cups of flour mixture and beat until smooth. Gradually add more flour, 1/2 cup at a time, until dough leaves sides of bowl.

Turn dough out onto lightly floured surface and knead until smooth and elastic, about 8-10 minutes. Place in a large greased bowl and turn once to coat the top of the dough. Cover dough and place in warm, draft-free space until the dough doubles in size, about an hour. Press dough down into bowl to remove the big air bubbles. Divide dough into small pieces. Roll into balls and place in shallow greased baking pan with sides touching. Cover loosely in cloth. Let rise in warm place until the dough doubles in size, about an hour. Bake in oven at 400 degrees F for 15 to 20 minutes, or less time if your rolls are small. Remove from oven and brush with melted butter while hot.

Makes 2 to 3 dozen, depending on size.

Enjoy!!!!

Burt Reynolds is an Alien

Enough said.

OLPC will change the world forever

This topic has been floating around the web for the last two years or so however, I have found that there are not a lot of folks that know about what Nicholas Negroponte is doing to change the world, one child at a time.

The name: OLPC "One Laptop Per Child".
The mission: to provide a means for learning, self-expression, and exploration to the nearly two billion children of the developing world with little or no access to education.

Through Nicholas' grand vision, he has banded together a cadre of technology professionals to create a laptop that is rugged, cheap, open source, and most of all: child friendly. He has partnered with a group of countries around the world to deliver a cost effective laptop to children that may never have had the opportunity to even touch or see a laptop, let alone own one.

Currently a person can go online and pay $399 to send one laptop to one of these countries, and send the second to a child or person of their own choice. It is also possible to purchase one or a million (or somewhere in between), and do with them what you please. For example, Birmingham, Alabama's new mayor has pledged that he will work to ensure the city purchases 15,000 laptops to outfit all of the children in the city's elementary schools.

There are other computer makers who have begun making competitive laptops and selling them to 3rd world countries. What makes these laptops terribly unique is the effort that went into making them. Beyond the amazing development process through the non-profit org, these laptops run on very little power, use a "mesh" network to enable many laptops to have internet through one single wireless or wired connection, and can be charged with almost anything. They were specifically designed for one purpose in mind: the mission above. Not to make money or build marketshare, but for the better good of mankind.

UnFair Park: a Dallas icon exposed

The Matrix

The Matrix was my first DVD I ever purchased. Pre-ordered it online, waited a few months, and screamed like a little girl when it was delivered to my doorstep. It was before the internet bust when I was not much of an online purchaser. Watched it for a bit tonight. Have to admit that it is an amazing film. The characters are fairly well written and developed, and the cinematography is breathtaking. Great movie to watch on a kickin' system. Yes, I just said "kickin". Sometimes it needs to be said. The next two in the Matrix trilogy suck but the first still has a special place in my heart. Could have done without Keanu Reeves but nothing is life is ever perfect, is it?

Made me think what has what has Carrie-Anne Moss done since Matrix. Besides the two obvious answers, not a ton. I don't care. She was entertaining...and a bit sexy...in the Matrix and had a good character in Memento. Good enough for me. Peace out.

Take a Piss: old friends

Years ago I went on my lunch break from high school and decided to go check on a friend of mine...an old friend. One I had known since I was a young lad. Almost known him my entire life...that I can recall at least. A few of us were worried because he hadn't shown up to school that day. Most might think he was just skipping school; however, he is not that kind of guy. At least not on purpose.

We knocked on the door of his home with his red, long, land boat loitered in the drive way. I use the word loiter, because his car didn't just park. It imposed. Nonetheless, he knocked. We wait a few seconds to hear the sound of blinds crackling open...you know the sound...so we looked over and see a few fingers pulling the blinds open about where his bed sat. A pair of eyes strained to see out into the sunlight and focus on who was at the door.

It was obvious he overslept. Not sick. Tim didn't get sick. Tim overslept. That was his ailment. Although oversleeping implies a deadline or appointment was missed. I guess technically he missed school that day, however he was not concerned. He was never concerned. He once fell asleep in a bathroom stall for over two hours. It didn't help that he stayed up past 3am most nights, but I don't want to give all of the good stories away so quickly.

A handful of time passed and we shortly heard footsteps come down his long entryway. The lock unlatches, the doorknob turns, and the next seconds of my life are fuzzy. No...not fuzzy. I take that back. Terribly sharp in my mind. The next seconds are burned into my brain as though a photo has been burned into an emulsion. Long to disappear. Maybe to fade over time...but it hasn't started to yet. I cannot wait for those memory cells to take the long walk down a short plank and give up the ghost. ….The door swings open to a rotund, short, slightly hairy, young man sauntering away in his whitey-tighties. His BVDs for goodness sake! You should not see any of your friends in their briefs after age six…maybe seven at a sleep over. Not good. Not good my friends.

Well, we were taken aback and at that point in time realized we had made a poor decision allocating lunch time to track this poor fool down. He shocked us my friends. If we had a bluff to call, he called it. It is not as though we are that good of friends that we just hang out in our underwear. He had punished us for waking him by shocking us. I don’t recall what happened after that because my brain attempted to take a memory dump. Didn’t work….just dumped all else after that moment. I think I lost that entire school year.

Greased Lightbox

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