December 02, 2007
Misadventures in Cooking, part V: Was it such a misadventure?
It's been ages since I wrote here... but I just felt the urge to log in and write something this evening. Originally, it was going to be some pathetic whining about stupid errands that I tried to run today to no great success. Nothing important, just enough to make me frustrated...
But that would be boring to read about (I know, because it was boring to try to write), so I decided to write about cooking instead.
I have done quite a lot of cooking since the last entry. I've decided, actually, that it is tremendous fun -- when it isn't maddening or stressful. Maddening mostly comes from doing it wrong, stressful from trying to do too many new things at once and struggling to keep it all going at once.
It's about 100 times more fun to cook for other people than to cook for just me. Thus, I typically try out new recipes for things like family gatherings and holidays. The first holiday that I brought something to was Thanksgiving last year (about a month after episode IV in this series). I whipped up the Hawaiian-style sweet potatoes again... because I really like them (butter, brown sugar... what's not to like!), and sweet-potatoes are a rather Thanksgivingy dish.
Well, everybody loved them. They were a huge, huge success. Only half got eaten -- but considering that mine was one of 4 different sweet potato dishes at the event... that's understandable. But everybody tried them, and everybody liked. Yay! Go me!
For the next gathering, I decided to do dessert. I went the simple route: chocolate-dipped fruit. I went to one of the better chocolatiers in the area (specifically Chuao, in case you were curious), and bought some spicy dark chocolate and some sweet dark chocolate. I also grabbed some milk & white chocolate from Trader Joes -- and then got strawberries, blackberries, and blueberries from the local farmer's market.
Mix them together, and you have... well, you have me officially appointed as bringer-of-desserts for all future family gatherings, actually. Which is cool, because it's really easy to dip fruit in melted chocolate (except that white chocolate doesn't work so well)
Fast forward to this Thanksgiving. I'm still dessert-bringer -- and so far, I've always done something involving chocolate, and it's always been a big hit. So, I'm thinking... chocolate!
I recall an interesting looking recipe that Dan sent to me once -- a recipe for Chocolate Guinness Cake -- that is, a chocolate cake made with Guinness beer. I've never baked a cake before... but that sounds awfully yummy, so I give it a go.
If you've never made a cake, you might not appreciate how unhealthy they are. The recipe called for 4 cups of sugar and 4 sticks of butter (among other things). Now... 4 cups of sugar may not sound like that much -- it didn't sound too bad to me. But, when I was measuring it... I used a cereal bowl to hold it. And, when I'd scooped in 4 cups, the bowl was completely full, with a huge mound over the top. You probably know about what 4 sticks of butter looks like (it's an entire box -- 1 pound). Anyway, that's quite a bit.
The recipe was really pretty simple.
Put butter and beer in a pan, simmer. Add cocoa powder, whisk until mixed well.
put flour, sugar, baking soda in big bowl, mix
put eggs and sour cream in big bowl, mix.
pour beer/cocoa/butter mix into egg/sour cream. mix well.
mix in flour/sugar/baking soda into everything-else bowl.
take cake pans, line with butter, then add parchment paper. then grease paper with yet more butter.
pour batter in, bake.
take 1 pound of bittersweet chocolate, and chop it very fine.
pour cream into pan, simmer, add chopped chocolate, mix well, refrigerate, stir frequently, when it's the consistency of icing, it's done.
take cake layers out of oven. when they are completely cool, ice and stack. slice and eat!
(the whole recipe is here )
Anyway, it turned out really fabulous. There were a few moments of amusing tension along the way, such as when I realized that I had no plates large enough to put the cake on for stacking and icing. I ended up going with a pizza-pan, because Target had run out of cake plates, but they had pizza-pans left. This was interesting, because the pizza pan has holes in it. so i lined it with waxpaper, which worked fine, except that the pan was nonstick, and waxpaper on nonstick is very nonstick, and so while driving to dinner it almost ended up all over the car several times.
There were 24 people at the dinner, and most of them had a slice... and that was only half the cake. I was cutting slices as thing as humanly possible, which was fine, because the cake was really rich. (Not overly chocolatey, just really heavy).
Which turns out to be a good thing, since I later found out that the cake has about 14,000 calories in it, and that the tiny slices I was cutting were about 400 calories a pop, which is fine, and that a normal-sized slice would have been about 1200 calories, which is obscene.
Next time I'm going to break with the chocolate tradition, though, because I found a recipe for a peanut butter cake that looks fantastic, and I haven't had a peanut butter cake in about 18 years. That recipe looks more complicated, though... so... we'll see how it goes.
Posted by andrew at 12:13 AM | Comments (0)
December 10, 2006
On Bicycling, Rain, Stupidity, Noodles, and Helpful People
[Editor's Note: After about a year since last logging in, I found this true story of how I pathetically got myself stuck out in the rain sitting, marked as 'unpublished' This story occurred during the only significant rainstorm of the 2006-2007 rainy season. Since yesterday was the first significant rainstorm of 2007-2008, it seems extra fitting to publish this now. Besides, it's a long time ago now, and it doesn't seem as embarrassing anymore. ]
That's a long title... but that's OK, because I have a long story tonight...
You see, about 4ish hours ago, now, I left my apartment, figuring I'd try and do a long (for me) distance bike-ride. For extra motivation, I set my destination as Shin-Sen-Gumi as the destination... that's about a 10.5 mile ride each way. The 21 mile round trip was well beyond my personal record... but... I was feeling good... and if I started to hurt, I could always stay at Shin Sen Gumi as long as I needed to recover for the return trip.
I got to Shin Sen Gumi just fine... I wasn't even that tired. I had a yummy dinner, talked to some interesting people sitting next to me at the counter, and left... On my way home, it started to rain... then to pour... Rainwater collected, flooding out the bike lane. After a car nearly didn't see me, I decided to pull onto the sidewalk, up a driveway... Big mistake. The curb was much higher than I thought, and there was tons of water. I lost control, flew off my bike, and went sliding along the pavement on hands-and-one-knee. I don't recall it, but apparently my head hit the ground, because I broke my helmet. (My head is completely uninjured... just with the sheer terror of trying not to die, I didn't notice bouncing my head off the ground... the helmet was rather poorly designed... a well-made helmet would not have broken, I don't think)
So... I'm in the middle of a light-industrial area in costa mesa or santa ana or something... It's about 10:00 at night. I'm utterly drenched (I went sliding along on the flooded ground) -- it's raining quite hard. So, I picked myself up... took a look at my hands and my knee... I decided that I was still in good working order, (actually, I think I said "I seem to still work" out loud...) and I was miles from anywhere I knew well... (actually, only a mile or so if I just turned around... but the thought never occurred to me) so... I got back on the bike, and headed on.
I attempted the ride today because... after hearing about other really hard stuff that other people (including some guys more than twice my age that I met at a networking event), that went way, way beyond what I'm capable of... I was feeling weak. I decided to prove that I was stronger than I thought. I wasn't about to let a little crash and minor injuries stop me!
About a mile later I decided I must not be terribly hurt... because I was still going. About 2 miles after that, I decided that I had better find a starbucks or something to stop and rest because my fingers were starting to go numb, and I was still really far from home. And some warm liquid would be very helpful.
I eventually wandered into the Carrow's Restaurant at Bristol and MacArthur, which turns out, amusingly, to be an almost perfect halfway-point between home and Shin-Sen-Gumi. I walk in, feeling like a drowned rat. I look at the manager, who welcomes me... at first I'm just shocked he let me sit down as drenched as I was. He brought me a mug of hot tea, asked if I was OK, and left me to recuperate. As I sat, absorbing as much warmth as I could suck out of that mug of tea (and the 3 or 4 more they brought me), I decided I'd better not try riding the rest of the way home in the pouring rain. Stronger-than-I-thought or not, I wasn't going to press it any further. I was absolutely frigid. Apart from that, the road was flooded a bit, and I knew that up ahead was a 2-mile stretch with no sidewalk... I'd be stuck riding in the middle of the road at night... a sure recipe for making the morning news as the latest grotesque roadkill...
Lupe, the manager at this Carrow's restaurant, called me a cab. I paid for my tea, left a large tip, thanked Lupe, and ran out to the cab. Less than 10 minutes later, I'm home... I reach in to my pocket, FUCK I LEFT MY WALLET AT THE RESTAURANT!!
Well... the cab driver didn't want to leave without collecting his fare... all I had in my pockets was 2 bucks, a few coins, and some crappy earbud headphones... and my iPod...
So... the driver took me back to the restaurant to get my stuff. I'm somewhat annoyed, but since I was honestly just grateful to be in a warm car, I decided that I'd go ahead and let him drive me there and back again... even though it'd cost a bit. In the end, the extra $30, while way too much for a cab ride home, seemed a small matter... I was still in that mode where only really big things matter... and at that moment $30 wasted was not a very big thing. Let the driver have a little extra bonus for coming and getting me at 11:30 and driving me all over...
I got back to Carrow's... they were closed, but Lupe let me in, gave me my wallet (and my cellphone, which I left there as well...). He then insisted (quite vehemently... I really tried to leave it for them) that I take the tip I left back... he wouldn't accept one penny more than the $1.89 for my hot tea. I left, got back in the cab, and came home, where I turned the heater up to about 80 for a bit to try and warm up.
Then I decided to write this on my blog, because I just had to tell someone my story to get it out of my head... I feel much better now with it all on (virtual) paper... I think I'll be able to sleep now...
All in all, a very expensive dinner at Shin-Sen-Gumi... expensive cab ride, new bike helmet, and a few scuffs and scratches...
But I'm home. And I broke my distance record, even with the stop halfway home. I thought it was 9 miles each way. Turned out to be about 10.5 out, and about 5.25 back to the Carrow's. That's just shy of 16 miles. While other people may not think that terribly far, it's a good 3 miles past my previous record. And I did 5 of it in a downpour. So I feel good about myself... even though I feel stupid at the same time for not thinking to just go back to shin sen gumi and wait for either the rain to stop or a cab there... riding in that kind of weather, especially on streets, is suicidal! But, I made it. And if it hadn't been raining, I totally would have made the other 5.25 miles home. I'm going to cool it for a day or two... but then I'm going to buy that new helmet and start riding again. More carefully.
As far as proving myself... well... it didn't go nearly as planned... and I had to rely on the kindness of other people to make it. But I did ok. Not awesome. Not great. Maybe not even that good. But: I made it farther than I would have expected. (The whole ride out, I kept expecting to stop and turn around at any moment... it wasn't until I could see my destination that I knew I'd really go the full distance). I didn't totally lose my head when it got tough. I came close... but I didn't... and I did get back up and keep going... for almost 4 miles... that counts for something in my book.
Oh... and... my iPod got a bit wet, like everything on me (well... everything in general... I was soaked!). I'm going to leave it alone for the evening... we'll see if it still works in the morning. It looks like it will, but who knows... I really hope so, because it's brand new, and that's a really expensive dinner if I need a new one.
And if, tomorrow, you find a piece of a bicycle helmet laying on a sidewalk along Talbert up around Euclid... it might have been part of my story this evening.
Posted by andrew at 12:22 AM | Comments (0)
October 24, 2006
Misadventures in Cooking, Part IV -- We're Getting There Now...
And so the journey continues.
So, Sunday, I return from iHop... despite the yummy sauce, I feel let down. But mostly frustrated. That was definitely the primary emotion.
Fast forward about 2 days... it's Tuesday night, and I'm recovered... ready to try again. (Monday night I was exhausted when I got home... Pizza was all I could manage...)
So... Recipe du jour? Kahlua Jerk Chicken with Hawaiian-style Sweet Potatoes. Sound delicious? Again the recipe isn't that complicated -- about 7 ingredients and 3 steps. Let us begin:
Take some chicken breasts (boneless-skinless), coat them lightly with flour. Easy. Although, just a thought, but why does flower come in big paper bags with no way to reseal? Just opening the thing I got flour everywhere... anyway...
Then, dump the chicken in a skillet w/ a bit of olive oil... while the chicken was cooking (I had several 3ish minute intervals), I started the sweet potatoes. That recipe is pretty simple... take out all the ingredients and dump em in a pan. The only thing that took effort was slicing the bananas... and that's pretty darn easy.
OK, chicken's done! Actually, I think I burned one side the tiniest bit... (remember, coated in flour... that can actually burn). OK, take the chicken out, put it on a plate, and grab the rest of the ingredients to make the jerk sauce. 3/4 cup of Kahlua? Oh Yeah! Half a bottle of Jerk Marinade? Well, that's why the recipe's considered fast & easy. Brown Sugar? sweet! (sorry, couldn't resist), and... wait... am I reading this right? 2 tablespoons of Chunky Peanut Butter?!?!. O. K. Whatever, let's try it...
Mix it up... until you cook out the alcohol, then dump the chicken back in and finish cooking. Back to the potatoes I go... oops... too hot... dried up the liquid... ok... uhm... let's add a bit of water. Done. Now, drop in the macadamia nuts, and try to keep it hot till the chicken's done.
All told, cooking took 50 minutes -- way longer than the "20 minutes or less" advertised by Ms. Sandra Whatever-her-name-is-who-wrote-the-book -- but not as bad as Sunday. And now... Drum Roll Please...
Hmm... who'd have ever guessed that chunky peanut butter was just the thing to go with the coffee liqeur and the jerk marinade... but it sure is! I declare this dinner to be a complete and total success! Chicken is awesome. The hawaiian sweet potatoes are even better. The garlic bread's very meh, but whatever... I'll just eat extra potatoes.
The coolest thing about the dinner, aside from being delicious and having enough leftovers for two average-size meals, was that I honestly felt it was substantially better food than what I would have ordered had I gone out to eat. So, I didn't feel like I'd "compromised" in order to cook at home (which, while theoretically cheaper, really costs a bit more).
So... Things Are Looking Up.
Oh, and I lied.. .the coolest thing about dinner was that it didn't involve iHop.
So, this is starting to look just a bit less like a complete misadventure after all.
— The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 23, 2006
Misadventures in Cooking, Part III
Sorry for the long delay... I somehow got sidetracked... so easy to do, I know.
So, last time, we ended with the sad, sad faded sign at the local iHop. Incidentally, that's the one near the John Wayne Airport here in Irvine. I've been there off-and-on since I moved here... I think they sometimes recognize me... anyway, they treat me pretty well, at least... they were very nice to me Saturday, which helped, because I felt like crap.
So.. on to Sunday! I've got the gear... LETS COOK!!!
So, I crack out my recipe list... what are we thinking... Aha! How about "Penne A La Vodka" -- penne pasta in a vodka-tomato-cream sauce. To be served with "Killer Shrimp Soup" and some crusty french bread. Doesn't that sound delicious? (I'm telling you, the recipe book is cool... simple-seeming recipes that sound damn good)
I learned very quickly that cooking is much harder when doing 2 things at once... The sauce required paying attention to... the soup required paying attention to... the noodles... well. they need to be stirred every 2 minutes and dumped out in 10. Sounds simple, but I was running back and forth across my (smallish) kitchen going nuts trying to keep up with the different timers and getting all the ingredients in the right pans, and remembering which spoons had gone in what. And where did I put... oh, over there...
It's kind of a shame my roommate wasn't here... he missed a hell of a show... it was just me, but it was an absolute mad house.
So... the sauce... dice some pancetta (I tell ya, the guy at Gelsons knows his stuff... I asked for the pancetta sliced kinda thin -- he said "your recipe's gonna want you to dice it... you don't use sliced pancetta" so he made thickish slices that would be kinda-ok if you diced it, but still ok if you left it as slices. smart guy. And pancetta is expensive -- good thing I only needed 3 oz... at something like $15.99/lb...) brown it in olive oil... mix in some vodka... some sauce... some cream... some parmesan. That's actually it, though on Sunday it seemed really, really hard to do.
The soup... well... the recipe seemed strange, but I don't really know... so... I'll just do what it says. Chardonnay and Clam Juice, chicken broth and red pepper... Oh No! My new spice rack doesn't have red pepper flakes... uhmm... let's try chili powder. OK... back on track... next... Italian Seasoning... sounds vague, but it's in the spice rack -- I checked -- and some pepper... and a big scoop o' garlic (yum!) mix, stir, boil, stir, ... OK, now for some Condensed Cream of Shrimp soup.
In went the soup. I was supposed to stir slowly, allow the condensed soup to decondense and thicken/make creamy the soup. Well... that's not exactly what happened. What happened instead was that the condensed soup goo (condensed soup is basically soup concentrate with a gelatinous consistency... becomes creamy in hot water) simply broke in to small pieces and floated around the pot. So, I made it hotter... stirred faster... used a fork instead of a spoon to stir... After about an hour (and with about half of the not-actually-a-soup-nasty-liquid on my, I gave up. Into the sink it went.
Oh Crap! The Noodles! (Actually, I remembered them long before the hour... don't worry... but I was a few minutes late). They were only slightly overcooked. So, I grab the collander, and dump out the penne. Out of the old crappy pasta pot comes the penne... and then the "non-stick" coating... That's right, folks! The teflon coating on the pot stuck to the noodles (and not the bottom of the pot) and ended up in the collander. Great! I can't eat teflon! It causes cancer! (I know, everything causes cancer... but do you want to eat teflon-encrusted penne? didn't think so). So, into the trash goes all but a single large handful of my noodles.
Fortunately, however, I gave up on the soup before dumping in the cooked-peeled-ready-to-eat shrimp. So, into my bowl went the handful of noodles, then a small handful of shrimp. Then I poured on the Vodka sauce, said a little prayer (well, actually, I probably said something like "this damn sauce had better be good").
And I sat down, depressed, to eat.
The thoughts running through my head went something like this: "$250 of ingredients... 7 dinners... that's $35 apiece... Great... I just wasted like $30 on this crap"
So... I viciously stabbed some noodles with my fork, and stuck it in my mouth. Damn! that sauce is awesome. Over the following 10 minutes, I regained some of my calm, as I enjoyed what ultimately became an awesome shrimp-cocktail-like appetizer.
Afterwards, my brain did the following unhappy math... "$35 worth of ingredients... became an appetizer... sure, and awesome one... so... $10? $12? Net Loss: $23-25"
To make matters worse, it's now... you guessed it... after 10:00. And I've only had an appetizer. I'm hungry still! Damn it, I'm going to get an ice-cream sundae... I need it... Wait... it's late... great... you know what that means
Yay! iHop! Cause It's So Tasty And Not Overpriced!
Damn it! Again!!! NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO
Yes, that's right... iHop it is.
For the record, although the sundae tasted pretty bad (not enough fudge), it made me feel much better. Well, it and the cup of coffee.
So, I came home, exhausted -- mentally, anyway -- and decided to go to sleep.
Thus concludes Misadventures: Part III.
There's more... one more episode worthwhile has already occurred... then I'll be caught up to the present... should be up tomorrow, but we'll see.
until then, I leave you with this excellent quote from Warren Buffet that has nothing to do with food, except possibly on being able to afford more of it:
"If you can eliminate the government as a 39.6% partner, then you will be much better off."
— Warren Buffet
— The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 10:23 PM | Comments (0)
October 16, 2006
Misadventures in Cooking, Part II
Continued from Misadventures in Cooking, Part I
So, I awoke Tuesday morning, to the not-necessarily-uplifting sound of Luca Turilli blasting over the iPod. (hey, whatever works, right?) Once I shook off the crazy dreams, I jumped up out of bed, eager to get the day going. After all, today I was going to become awesome-gourmet-chef-Shelanman, instead of just usual always-eat-out-somewhere-Shelanman.
Off to work I went, where I was only somewhat successful at getting the picture and imagined smell of dinner out of my head. What can I say, I like my food. (Hey, you haven't seen my family talk about food, have you? Under the right circumstances, the conversation over an upcoming meal could run for hours.)
While I was working, I inevitably strayed over to google... where I asked about knives... I knew I wanted a good set. Well... did Google ever have a story for me... a set of 8 knives could run as high as $2500! Worse, though, all the sets under $200 looked cheap. Hoo boy... this cooking thing wasn't going to be cheap... maybe I'd better reconsider. No Way! I was not going to give up so easily! Besides... my birthday is coming up. Maybe I can suggest some cutlery as a good gift. But that meant waiting 3 more weeks.
The decision was taken from me for the moment though, as work ran late... in what would turn out to be a week full of long and tiring (good and successful, but long and tiring) days. Alas, but becoming awesome-chef-Shelanman had to wait... until... Saturday!
I awoke Saturday morning eager to begin my new adventure. I had taken stock of the kitchen, and made a list of gear and gadgets I needed, and ran off to shop. I swear, the entry seemed simple enough "good large skillet, with lid" But what the hell is a good skillet. Is it non-stick? Teflon? NSF Certified? Stainless Steel? Anodized Aluminum? "Infused-Anodized?" (I'm not sure what it is that's anodized, or what it's infused with... that's just what the $120 skillet said on the box...)
After much consultation with people who cook, I decided on a Hard-Anodized-Aluminum Non-Stick skillet that happened to be on sale for $40. For cutlery... I settled on a spiffy set of J. A. Henkels knives, because they came with a set of steak knives for just $10 extra as a bonus (and because several people had recommended that brand -- though I couldn't tell what made one line better or worse than another).
Off I went through the kitchen gadgets, faithfully buying everything on my list... and everything else that looked useful "ooh! cool spinning spice rack. Comes with all the spices already! add it to the pile!
Well... at the checkout counter, they tallied my results... after about 2 and a half hours of somewhat frustrating (too many options, not enough knowledge) shopping, I'd spent $450 on kitchen goodies! Yeaouch!!! Ah well.. now for the funner part: buying all the foods to make my dinners.
Off to the market I go. Down this aisle "hmm... I don't even know what pearl onions are... ooh, here they are" to "what's the difference between crushed chili, chili powder, and chili rub" which became "hmm... where to they keep the garlic, anyway" , and then "damn... the meat counter's closed already" , and then... eventualy "What the $%&#... they're out of lettuce and cauliflower!?!"
It's now about 9:30... I've been out buying stuff for like 5 and a half hours... I'm still missing like 15 ingredients... (everything from lettuce to shrimp, to a particular flavor of campbells soup to corn meal to something called Pancetta which turned out to be the Italian version of Canadian Bacon) but I've scoured the store, and they don't have any of them... So I head to the checkout counter, where I place my 50 different cans of stuff, piles of meat, packages of pasta on the conveyer, followed by the alcohol: 1 bottle cheap red wine (beef burgundy), one bottle cheap Chardonnay (shrimp soup), 1 bottle vodka (Penne A la Vodka), 1 bottle Kahlua (Kahlua chicken), 1 bottle dry vermouth (what, exactly *is* dry vermouth... anyway... for... something... I forget), and 1 bottle Jim Beam Bourbon (Bourbon Baked Beans).
The guy gives me this look... "well, what are you doing tonight" he asks, with a bit of a smirk on his face... Now... I admit, that is a rather bizarre selection of alcohol... 1 bottle of each, and not a good mix... certainly not the right collection for bringing to a party... but then, I wasn't going to a party... and you wouldn't bring a 50oz can of Swanson's Low Sodium Chicken Broth to a party either... or, at least, I wouldn't. So I look at the guy and say "actually, it's for cooking. He just rolls his eyes at the idiot who can't pick out liquor for a party and says "yeah... right." He shakes his head, removes the little security things from the top of the bottles, and says "got a Ralphs card? good... that'll be... $219.50"
!!
I just spent over $200 on ingredients to make seven dinners and I'm still missing all sorts of stuff And, to make matters worse, it's now 10:20... too late to start cooking dinner... and I'm too tired anyway... great, by the time I put all this away, it'll be too late to go anywhere but...
Yay! iHop! Cause It's So Tasty And Not Overpriced!
but it's "OPEN HOURS", according to the paper sign whose red "24" faded years ago...
Oh well, there's always... tomorrow... at least I only spent... oh... wait... I spent just a few bucks shy of $700 today... tomorrow, then...
to be continued
I'm going to keep going... I'll post again tomorrow -- daily until I catch up, then only when something interesting happens.
—The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 09:10 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2006
Misadventures in Cooking, Part I
Hail, faithful reader! You are indeed a faithful reader of mine if you caught this post, the first in many moons,
I'm going to start writing again, both because I need the practice, and because I think I have something interesting to talk about again. Well, it's interesting and funny to me... we'll have to see if any of you find it so.
You see, having finally solved the roommate dilemma, I decided to try my hand at cooking again. I figured this time, I'd go for a bit higher-quality food, even though it meant more effort, because the main reason I gave up cooking the last time is that it was a lot of effort for food that really didn't taste all that good anyway...
It all began on Monday, October 8th. I was riding home from work, feeling all excited about my newfound take on cooking... I was eager to begin. So... I said to myself... what should I make? Well, myself responded... I don't really know how to make anything good (except for that pasta sauce with sausage that seems to have become a staple in my family. Aha! I know, I thought... I'll go buy a cookbook... one that has things that are fairly easy to make, but still taste good!
And thus the journey began; I turned my car around, and headed for the nearest Barnes & Noble, where I bypassed the usual Science Fiction and Fantasy aisle for the "Home" section. As I left the center of the store, I noticed that guys became suddenly scarce... at the same time, the number of books with pink covers was growing precipitously... I had entered the chick section. Well... I wasn't going to let a thing like being the only guy in sight avert me... and so, I found the cookbook section. After much browsing, I settled on one that promised great-tasting "Semi Homemade" dinners in 20 minutes or less. I flipped through the pages, and saw tasty (and, of course, beautiful) dish after tasty dish...
I grabbed a few other books to compare... while some of them looked fancier, and others looked simpler, I didn't find anything else that promised the tastiness of the semi-homemade book in anywhere near the time... most of the "easy meals" books were either 30 or 45 minutes... and most of them had dishes that looked more boring... (OK, maybe it's just the pictures and the names... I mean... the Killer Shrimp Soup looked really, really good... as did the Kahlua chicken dish... so I left the store, eager to begin.
I was on my way to the grocery store, when I realized that I had no idea what to buy... and that I needed to buy some kitchen gear. I had one pot, no knives, no kitchen tools... my roommate brought stuff, but I hadn't looked at it yet. So, I settled on the next-best course: have one last dinner eaten out, and flip through the cookbook, choosing recipes and making an ingredient list. Then I'd go to the store on my way home, and then get kitchen goodies on my way home from work the next day.
All excited, I sat through a mediocre meal at Pat & Oscars looking at the yummy things I was going to cook for the rest of the week... Gnocchi with chicken in a Gorgonzola mushroom cream sauce... Penne in a tomato-vodka-cream sauce, served with the Killer Shrimp Soup and fresh bread, Chili-Rubbed BBQ Pork Chops with Bourbon Baked Beans and Cheesy Cauliflower Au Gratin... I planned out 7 dinners (expecting to have 1 full serving of leftovers after each (the recipes looked to be for about 3-4 people... so even if my roommate shared, there should be enough for me to have a second meal)...
I got in my car, all excited to get started, when I realized it was 10:00, and I hadn't even been home yet... So, I just headed home, figuring I'd go shopping on Tuesday... Sure, I'd had a lousy Pat & Oscars meal (I never love Pat & Oscars, but it was particularly disappointing that day... although it may have been due to the delicious pictures in my book), but, as an animated Indian liquor store clerk once said, "tomorrow is the next day," and the new gourmet-chef version of me was about to rise. I got home, rolled in to bed, and dreampt of... actually, I don't remember... other than a vague impression that the dreams were disturbing...
to be continued
I'll try to write up the next part tomorrow... until then. good night, and good eats.
—The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 10:47 PM | Comments (0)
August 29, 2006
I need a roommate, do you need a room?
On the off chance that one of you friendly people out in the ether happens to be looking for a place to live, I thought I'd let you all know that... I've got a room... and I need to find someone to fill it!
I've got a 2 bedroom 2 bath (1100 sq. ft.) apartment in Irvine, CA. It has all the upgrades... granite countertops, hardwood floor, gas stove, washer & dryer on the balcony, ... all that good stuff... It's one of the nicer places I've found -- which is why I moved in.
I am looking for someone who wouldn't mind commiting to 12 months, and can handle Irvine rents. Oh, and of course, you have to be cool like me! (The rent's $999 per month)
If that number doesn't scare you away completely, and you'd like to come see this spiffy apartment I've got... leave a comment, or send me e-mail to needaroom _at_ shelanman _dot_ com . I'd be happy to show you the place! It's available NOW, so if you're in a hurry, that's just fine.
Posted by andrew at 09:47 PM | Comments (0)
July 27, 2006
OSCON '06, Day 4
Well, now it's day 4 of OSCON, and I'm still attending classes... the classes are all shorter now -- just 45 minutes apiece instead of the 3.5 hours they were Monday and Tuesday. I've taken classes on a number of topics, including Perl, JavaScript, AJAX, Selenium, ...
So far though, my theme seems to have ended up being testing. You see, at work, I write lots of code... we do pretty good requirements analysis, design, and implementation... but when it comes to testing and code control, I knew we were a bit weak... it's really hard, because we're short on manpower, as always. Besides... how fun is it to try to break something once it works?
So... we always test... and we catch the majority of stuff... but every now and then we uncover a bug that we should have noticed sooner...
Well, anyway, at this convention, I've attended a number of classes that talked about one or another aspect of testing, and I'm determined to improve how we test our code The first step, of course, it to try and build some automated test suites... Instead of just testing feature X, we'll write some tests for feature X -- that way we can save them and run them later.
Then I took a class called "Mind Like Water, the Path to Perl Bliss." I wasn't sure what I'd get out of that somewhat Zen-sounding class. Well, there were a number of different subjects covered -- all centered around the different perl "personalities" that might be present in you at different times. For me, though, the key moment was a good convincing argument for writing tests for your code before you write your code. You see, I've resisted this notion strongly since I first heard it... it always struck me as one of those crazy things only an academic could think up.
I'm still not totally convinced, but... (and this also comes from that class) I'm going to force myself to do it for one month. Everything I write for the next month I'll write Test-First. At the end of the month, if I hate it, I'll stop. If it's better... I'll keep doing it.
It's lunch now, but after lunch, I'm in "Leveraging Mono" , and a couple more talks by Amy Hoy -- this time on user interface design. Hopefully she's feeling better (she was sick Monday morning, which couldn't have helped...). Tomorrow afternoon, after the conference, I'll head to Seattle, where I'll spend most of the week before heading out to Defcon.
I guess I'm just all over the place these days.
Posted by andrew at 01:19 PM | Comments (0)
July 25, 2006
OSCON 2006
I'm currently at O'Reilly's Open Source convention up in Portland this week. Portland was discustingly hot until late last night when it suddenly became nice out. Which is good, because it's hard to focus on learning stuff when you're uncomfortable. Yesterday morning I spent about 3 hours in a class called "Javascript Bootcamp" -- which was great for me, because I knew not-a-thing about the language... The presentation was definitely necessary for me, although the presenter... Amy Hoy, I believe her name was... she knows a good bit about JavaScript, but she's definitely approaching all this from the web developer side... and not as an experienced programmer...
For example, she showed us a typical while loop and a do...while loop, and talked about how there was no difference, but she liked do...while better, though you can do whatever you want. Well, in reality they aren't the same... Also, it was apparent that our presenter was really, really nervous up in front of the group... though she actually did do a pretty good job with her material (do...while mistake aside).
I then spent the afternoon having my brain twisted around in a class called "Higher-Order Perl" -- which basically talked about stuff you could do by using the functional-programming features availabe in Perl. Basically the class was divided into three topics: function caching; iterators and streams; and parsing -- all largely using closures -- functions that create and return functions
Right now I'm in a break in the middle of a not-terribly-interesting course on marketing to people who hate marketing. There's some good material, but... it's not as interesting as I'd hoped, and I don't think it's going to be as useful, either... talking about "The intention economy" and finding people who've already decided what they want... which is great so long as people already know about what you do.
So, that's what's going on in my little corner of OSCON.
Posted by andrew at 02:02 PM | Comments (0)
March 23, 2006
The Desk Saga Continues
Updated 3/25/2006 at 10:14PM
Last night, after having been unable to get anyone from A.B.E. to return my phone calls or e-mails for over a month, I received a call from the A.B.E. Delivery guy, telling me he had a pair of doors to deliver.
Today they arrived. The doors looked to be both the right color and the right size. They were even properly handle-free.
But, they were lacking the necessary hardware for installation! So, the delivery guys took both the old doors and the new doors away, and promised to return with the proper parts in 15 minutes.
Here's hoping the idiots can get it right this time...
(for the previous segment of the story, see Customer [un]satisfaction from January)
— The Shelanman
Update: The installers returned with hardware already installed in the doors. Of course, the hardware was in a different place on the new doors than it was on the old, so naturally they had to drill fresh holes in my hutch to attach them.
They gave me no warning or indication that they were about to drill four more holes into an already-hole-riddled piece of furniture... so I didn't have the opportunity to stop them. The desk is now complete. I find that the frame of the desk -- the desktop, the sides, the bookcase -- are all of excellent quality and craftsmanship. The hutch, the doors, and the drawers, however, would not be out of place on a rack in an IKEA -- they are poorly constructed, not all the same shape or size, and fit together only "fairly well." The doors on the hutch are so absurdly wobbly... I've leaned on them, and I don't think they will fall off... but there's a lot of vertical play in the hinges...
All in all, not worth the $1400 I paid, or the 6 months and 4 trips it took to get it set up.
— The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 03:53 PM | Comments (0)
December 15, 2005
Happy Hanukkah
Please accept with no obligation, implied or implicit my best wishes for an environmentally conscious, socially responsible, low stress, non-addictive, gender neutral, celebration of the winter solstice holiday, practiced within the most enjoyable traditions of the religious persuasion of your choice, or secular practices of your choice, with respect for the religious/secular persuasions and/or traditions of others, or their choice not to practice religious or secular traditions at all.
And a fiscally successful, personally fulfilling, and medically uncomplicated recognition of the onset of the generally accepted calendar year 2006, but not without due respect for the calendars of choice of other cultures whose contributions to society have helped make America great, (not to imply that America is necessarily greater than any other country or is the only "America" in the western hemisphere), and without regard to the race, creed, color, age, physical ability, religious faith, or choice of computer platform of the wishee.
(By accepting this greeting, you are accepting these terms. This greeting is subject to clarification or withdrawal. It is freely transferable with no alteration to the original greeting. It implies no promise by the wisher to actually implement any of the wishes for her/himself or others, and is void where prohibited by law, and is revocable at the sole discretion of the wisher. This wish is warranted to perform as expected within the usual application of good tidings for a period of one year, or until the issuance of a subsequent holiday greeting, whichever comes first, and warranty is limited to replacement of this wish or issuance of a new wish at the sole discretion of the wisher.)
— The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 10:17 AM | Comments (0)
November 18, 2005
Harry Potter Day, 2005
Today is Harry Potter day. Why? Well, because Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire is now out in theatres, and, for the first showing, at least, it was to sell-out crowds.
It's the middle of the night, and The Shelanman has work in the morning, so this'll be a very brief review.
If you want a faithful retelling of the book, make you own movie. This one won't please you.
If you want a movie that, while not a retelling, remains true to the original material. You should see it, and then go make your own movie. You'll probably be disappointed.
If, on the other hand, you want a fabulous movie, well written and acted, that's engaging, amusing, occasionally creepy, and loads of fun, and don't really care how "just like the book" it is, I encourage you to buy tickets now. You'll enjoy it. I did.
Oh, and if you're about 14 or 15 years old and female, and want something to go gaga over... well... the young girls in the audience certainly found time to sigh and whistle and scream... I forgot how... absurd... 14 year old girls are. (Yes, I said this after the last Harry Potter movie... but *I FORGET* these things, being neither 14 nor female myself.
A more full review, containing minor spoilers should be up sometime tomorrow. Never fear, I'll keep the spoilers on the second page and provide warning... The Shelanman likes to go into movies knowing nothing, so I completely understand the wish to avoid spoilers...
[spoiler on back page, don't say I didn't warn you]
CEDRIC DIGGORY DIES AT THE END!!!!!!!
(but then, you knew that, didn't you)
(yes, that's my idea of a joke. especially at 3:17 AM)
Posted by andrew at 03:09 AM | Comments (0)
October 30, 2005
Happy Hallowe'en
Yesterday, I attended a most excellent Hallowe'en party. I went as a Star Trek Fanboy!
Mostly, I'm writing this to show off my most excellent costume, and to thank two individuals who made the costume possible.
First, thanks go to Wil Wheaton for the most excellent signed Poker Stars hat! I bumped into Wil at IGN Live last week, and he gave me this hat. Thanks Wil, it really made the costume!
Additionally, thanks go out to Elaine for acting all fan-girl when she started talking to Wil Wheaton at IGN Live... Looking at the hat yesterday morning, and then remembering her reaction, gave me the inspiration I needed to come up with a costume idea. Had I not come up with anything, I was going to be this truly awful ketchup bottle.
So... Thanks Wil! Thanks Elaine!
[EDIT: 10/31/2005, 11:44 AM PST]
Just got an e-mail from Wil Wheaton, claiming that my costume was "more than fabulous. That was wicked awesome."
Glad you liked it, Wil!
[/EDIT]
— The Shelanman
Photo Courtesy Keith Roberts
Posted by andrew at 10:26 PM | Comments (0)
October 26, 2005
What is InsideWork?
I've been working for InsideWork for over three and a half years -- four in February -- and in all this time, I've never been able to quite put my finger on what exactly InsideWork is.
Oh, sure, I know what we do! We do several things:
We run a large website that includes a blog. Several times a week, we post a new piece on the connections between a current event in the business marketplace, and the Christian Bible.
We have a series of workbooks -- Bible Studies -- that we sell -- all designed to connect the teachings of the Christian Bible and the world of Business.
But, there were two things I could never figure out -- and really, they're both related: What is InsideWork, and why on earth would anybody care!?!
Honestly, it's made working for InsideWork a bit of a challenge...
I'm so firmly on the outside... I'm not Christian, for starters. But in addition, I'm not someone who would ever consider actually working through a Bible Study, let alone buying one! I just didn't get it... and was beginning to doubt there was an "it" to "get."
Things have changed a bit now, though. InsideWork has finally been explained to me well enough that I can understand it and make the appropriate parallels so that it makes sense to me, the not-very-"practicing" Jew.
InsideWork is, at it's core, a collection of businessmen who are looking for a purpose... looking for a reason that business and work are not just about making money; a reason why "values" matter.
InsideWork is run by Christians -- though they don't identify with the word. They are Christian in that the bible they read is the Christian Bible -- Old Testament and New Testament combined. But InsideWork isn't a church; InsideWork isn't about church; and frankly, InsideWork's message doesn't much appeal to church insiders.
In their terminology, InsideWork is run by individuals with a "biblical worldview." But I don't speak that language -- that doesn't mean anything to me. Today it was unpacked and translated a bit; InsideWork is run by businessmen who have turned to the Christian Bible as a source of inspiration and lessons on how to run a better business, and why a better business is worth running. They are tired of the sleaze model of business; where one does what one can to make money. They are convinced that this is neither fulfilling, nor profitable in the long run.
So, the Founders of InsideWork have built the InsideWork website with the hope that it will become a place where businessmen who are tired of the dirty cut-throat short-term-profits-at-all-costs mentality that dominates the marketplace today can come to learn about (and share with others) how the Christian Bible can illustrate an alternate, better path that leads to a more fulfilling work life -- and better long-term profitability to boot!
InsideWork doesn't have the answers; but they have some very interesting thoughts. And they're looking for other people who have things to share.
Let me translate one of the examples I was given this afternoon into the Jewish equivalent -- because the phenomena are actually quite similar.
This Rosh Hashannah, I noticed a pattern... Rabbis gave their "high holiday sermon" -- their one chance to reach out to the "fringe" of Judaism (the "long tail" that we keep hearing about) -- those of us who don't really attend religious services, don't really identify with the synagogue, but might go once-or-twice a year for High Holiday services... but only because someone "drags" us along – or because we’d feel so guily if we didn’t
This year, and, in fact, for the last several years, rabbis have been talking about expanding the synagogue into more parts of Jewish life -- and presenting ways to be a Jew -- ways to identify with the synagogue and it's membership -- without attending weekly Shabbat services. Some within the community respond that this is a great idea, sure to drive up membership. Others respond that it's a "dumbing down" of the religion, and that the synagogue should be kept clean and pure.
But, for InsideWork -- or, in this case, InsideJewishWork? -- the distinction isn't important. The way to reach out to those of us Jews who don't respond to traditional synagogue life isn't by trying to alter the synagogue so that we fit in (and thus want to join), it's about finding a way to use the principles of Judaism -- the writings, the teachings, the Torah, the whole rich heritage and history -- and applying them to the lives we live. Trying to find a way to allow God's teaching and his message to aid us in the lives we're actually going to live.
So, in this case, how to better conduct our business and personal lives. The value in the teaching isn't that we have a synagogue to attend, and rituals to perform -- after all, if the ritual doesn't mean something to the participant, it is an empty gesture. (And surely God can tell! And even if he couldn't if it means nothing to you, how can it help you?)
But, while InsideWork is interesting to me now, I'm still not in it's "target audience." The Christian Bible is full of useful knowledge to be sure -- and even as a Jew I'd be hard pressed to read it and learn nothing. And InsideWork could even help me make the connections. But I'm not Christian, and the Christian Bible doesn't appeal to me in that way... to me, it's just a series of books. To again borrow from InsideWork's message, I don't speak the jargon. Just like the businessmen who InsideWork speaks to don't speak the jargon of the Church (but do speak the jargon of Christianity), I do not speak the jargon of Christianity. And I don't want to learn it.
As a group known for our business strategy and acumen, it surprises me that I've not yet encountered a similar organization (or even a similar dialogue) among Jews. Though, to be honest, I didn't understand why someone would want such a thing, until I learned of one -- InsideWork -- that pursues that line of thinking.
I mean, Judaism is about Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Pesach; Judaism is about Synagogue and Bar Mitzvahs; Judaism is about Rabbis, Cantors, Religious Services and Sermons. It's about separate dishes and kosher kitchens, about matzah balls and challah (and food in general). Or at least, that's what other Jews have always taught me. But the Founders of InsideWork (who, to my great embarrassment, know more about both the teachings and rituals of Judaism than I do!) try to tell me that I'm missing out on a "rich heritage." I thought they were talking about the traditions and rituals that mean not-that-much to me. They weren't, though. And now I think I begin to understand what they were getting at... not sure how I feel about it, but... it makes much more sense now.
With all that in mind, check out http://www.insidework.net -- and check back. Now that I know where we're going, I can help us get there. I don't promise it'll be "your thing," but I bet it'll be interesting.
-- The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 05:36 PM | Comments (0)
August 31, 2005
Helping Katrina Survivors
So, I've finally heard from my two friends who were in Katrina's path, and they're OK.
Or, rather, they're alive and well enough to find an internet connection, and post mostly-coherent thoughts about the hell their lives have been recently.
Other than feeling great relief at their alive-and-wellness (especailly for the one who lives in New Orleans!), and trying to be a good friend, I'm left not knowing exactly what to do...
I've been thinking over the last three days... you know, I'll wander over to a restaurant to have a delicious meal prepared for me while I sit on a patio out in the beautiful sunlight, lean back in my comfy chair, and read my book, and it'll hit me: people in New Orleans (among many other places 'round the world, but I too am subject to recency bias) can't enjoy such simple things.
So, I thought, I'll help out! So, being the great hero I am, I ran down to... no... wait, I did nothing of the sort. I thought "hmm... other than giving money to someone else who promises it'll be put to good use, what could I do?" I haven't successfully answered that question yet. I thought about getting in my car (filling up the tank), and heading down there to join in the relief effort... but I don't know that I'd be any help. When I envision myself doing such a thing, I see myself being utterly useless... more hinderance than help...
I mean, if I were a carpenter, or otherwise just good at building things, maybe I could go someplace [that isn't under water] and just help people rebuild... you know... rent a truck, fill it with lumber, drive and just start building. But... I have no idea how to build houses. At work, I mostly build software. Occasionally I'm called upon to build a computer for a friend. People who don't have houses really don't need someone to help them re-assemble computers. And while I could build quite a few, I couldn't afford to buy parts to build very many at all. That doesn't feel like the answer.
[EDIT: Or hell, maybe it is, maybe what we should do is get me and a few of my readers together to try and get donations of gear and offer to build new computers for people who lost theirs in the storm. Actually, the more I think about it, the more I like the idea... any of you wanna help?]
[EDIT #2: Well... my inner-optimist has gone to sleep, and the inner-pessimist thinks this is all too silly and absurd... it doesn't help as much as just giving money to someone who can rebuild homes to buy lumber with. Because people really do need houses, and really can live without computers... so... maybe I got too excited earlier...]
So I thought I'd post something here and encourage my vast readership to suggest things I could do that would actually help out. If there's something really great I could do by heading out towards that part of the country, I think I'd be willing to spend a few days on such a project. I can't spend forever there, but I could probably manage a couple days, if it would really make a difference. If there's something I can do that would actually help from here, that's great too.
Any ideas?
Posted by andrew at 04:42 PM | Comments (0)
August 07, 2005
Dreamy Webhosting
Many of you may know this by now, but about two months ago I switched webhosts for ShelanMan.com...
For about 2 years, I was hosted by 1-and-1. I never really liked their service -- or their servers -- but they had a great "introductory special" way back when... 3 years free, just $5.99/year for domain registration... no (meaningful) restrictions...
Well, the servers were slow and unresponsive and the service was piss-poor... but when they stopped letting me transmit e-mail between my ShelanMan.com address and my work e-mail addresses (apparently I did it too often, (especially with attachments) and so they thought it was spam). They wouldn't solve the problem, so I went looking for a new host.
For about two months now, I've been on DreamHost... and so far everything's just Dreamy (they like that word). I get 7680MB of disk space, 192GB/Month of bandwidth, more e-mail addresses and mailboxes than I could ever hope to use, and all the usual perks.
Plus, they have a bunch of software installed already, and a handfull of "one-click installs" in their management console. Oh, and they have MailMan installed already, so you can run discussion lists... which is a nice random bonus
I pay $15.95 per month (because I pre-paid 2 years) for all this... Oh, and my disk space allowance grows by 60MB every week, and my monthly bandwidth limit grows by at lest 1GB/week (and it's already so high that I could never hope to use even 5% of it).
So far I've contacted their support team probably 5 or 6 times, and all but one of the times I got a very quick response -- sometimes in less than a half hour. Remarkably, I got (meaningful) responses within an hour or two even when I contacted them on a Sunday afternoon!
Anyway, I wanted to keep you all informed of my server move (which has gone rather well), and get in an ad for DreamHost too! You see, they've got this deal... They'll give me $97 of free hosting (or they'll pay-pal me about $90) every time I sign someone up! Well... I've now got a cool way to entice you all to sign up... I can give you a discount
You go to DreamHost, pick your plan, and enter promo code "SHELANMAN40" You'll get $40.00 off your first payment, no matter which plan you pick or how much you pre-pay (which comes out of my $97 -- so I'll "only" get $57 worth of hosting, assuming you stick around for at least 3 months).
Fine Print: This discount is subject to whatever terms DreamHost sets up on their site. This offer is valid beginning today, August 7th, 2005, and can be rescinded at any time for any reason, including "because I said so." You agree that I don't have to tell you if I change the discount deal, or stop the discount program, or if DreamHost increases my compensation from the current amount. While I've loved DreamHost so far, I don't promise that you will too -- though they do, and will give you your money back if you cancel within 97 days (and I'd call a few days early if you really don't like it and want out).
</SHAMELESS PLUG>
Well, actually, it's not just an ad. I also told you about the server move that I did... so there's some content here, just not much...
— The Shelanman
Posted by andrew at 09:52 AM | Comments (0)
April 08, 2005
First Post!
Well, it's the first post in a really long time anyway!
I'm still here, working on the InsideWork website.
I'm still looking for a place to live in Irvine, CA. If you have a nice place, or are looking for a nice place, leave me a comment or send me e-mail, and we'll talk!
If you will be anywhere near Orange County, CA on Monday April 11th, you should consider attending the first meeting of the Libertarian Social Club of Orange County. Especially if you're a libertarian (or wish you were).
I'll try to come up with interesting stuff to post here a bit more frequently... so keep checking back, or grab the RSS. (It's off to the right somewhere)
Posted by andrew at 10:20 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
October 28, 2004
It Has Arrived
Yesterday I received a little postcard in the mail, informing me that my diploma had arrived! So, this morning I went and picked it up. You can see it here.
I was going to write something really spiffy talking about the trip to the campus -- my first in months, and all that... but I can't think of anything interesting to say about it, other than I GRADUATED! FOR REAL THIS TIME!
Posted by andrew at 11:17 AM | Comments (0) | TrackBack
August 13, 2004
Working the Night Shift
This weekend, the company I work for, InsideWork, is launching a new version of its website. This release comes after a remarkably short development period, and represents the first step in some interesting new directions for the company.
As a result of this upgrade, I worked until about 10:30 PM this evening, preparing to perform the upgrades to our live servers. It is actually very exciting, even though the specific tasks are dull, because the new site looks so much better, and works so much better than the previous site, and it has been put together in record time (Approximately 3 weeks since we set requirements).
The old site will be coming down first thing tomorrow, and the new site will go up before the day is out. Take a peek at http://www.insidework.net to see what's going on.
Update: 8/17/2004 - Well, it took until about 4:30 AM Sunday morning to get the site up, but its up! Take a look.
Posted by andrew at 11:53 PM | Comments (0)
It's Officially Unofficial
About once a week I log into UCI's StudentAccess tool to peek at my transcript. I check to see whether or not they have awarded my degree, you see. Well, today something was a bit different, my unofficial transcript lists an awarded degree!
So, It's Official... I've Graduated! Well, it would be official if I paid the $6 for an official transcript, anyhow... but the same database generates the official and unofficial transcripts, so I need not bother (though I might, you never know).
Until I decide that I don't really want the whole world to see my transcript, you can follow This Link to see a copy of the transcript.
Posted by andrew at 11:30 AM | Comments (0)