Mr. Guilt’s Blog

Finished Cupcakes

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 01:14:57 -0500

For my daughter's fifth birthday (today), I made cupcakes. These are very much from scratch--as my mixer is currently down, I stirred/mixed everything by hand. I have mad baking skillz.

You may not be able to tell from my less-than-mad piping skillz, but the pink character on each cupcake is Hello Kitty.

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I hope her and her friends like them.

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Inaugural Bake

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 17:08:22 -0500

The appliances in my house were all installed about fourteen years before we moved in. Counting our eleven years here, they would be twenty-five years old. However, one by one, we've replaced them.

The oven was never what we regard in top shape. The clock showed "6:20" for eleven years. The self-cleaning function wouldn't work. However, it worked well enough, so we lived with it. As I learned to bake, I got pretty good at adapting my recipes for my oven--adding as much as twice the recommended bake time.

Then, last Sunday, I set out to make bagels. I had shaped the bagels and started the second rise, and went to start boiling some water. I turned on the burner, and heard the gas, but didn't hear the "tick tick tick" of the igniter, and there was no flame. At the same time, my wife was getting something out of the fridge. No light.

Twenty minutes of panicked troubleshooting and calls to parents later, and we determined that it was the oven. We knew we'd need to replace it, so we had a decent feel for what was out there. We kinda shrugged, and figured we'd get a fairly low-end one. We don't know how much longer we'll be in the house, and were shooting for fit-to-purpose.

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We did a bit more than that.

We looked around, and I fell in love with one that was about 50% more expensive than we were expecting. It has a center griddle, a convection oven, and at least one high-power burner. This is on top of things like "self cleaning works," "the clock is not stuck at the same minute" and "I might be able to cook something in the time the book says." However, it was a stainless finish, and all the other appliances in our kitchen are white.

We walked around the store, made a few more calls to parents, and talked. I started to lean towards going back to the original, fit-to-purpose plan. My wife could see my enthusiasm. She talked to the sales guy. A version of the stove was available in white, for about $100 cheaper.

We talked some more. We walked around the store.

Ultimately, we went ahead and got the upgraded stove.

So far, I've made a quesadilla on the griddle, and popcorn on the burner (it was not until a Friday night that I was able to do anything with it).

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Today, I'm making cupcakes for my daughter's birthday tomorrow. They came out in roughly what the recipe suggested. Clearly, I'm going to have to re-learn how to bake.

First inaugural cupcake tasted...yum!

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I Was Going to Go Ride My Bike

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 11:28:42 -0500

Eddy felt I had to do something first.

I can haz pettins? I WILL haz pettins!

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Reply Some

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 10:56:41 -0500

Reply Some

It happens from time to time. A mass e-mail goes out to a distribution. Someone wants to comment on it (often "Please remove me from this distribution"). So they click, mostly out of habit, "Reply All." He may have meant for one person to see it; instead, score do. Several people have that idea. Then a wave of folks try to fix it by telling people to stop replying to all. This forks one group that decides to try to be funny; another group who tells everyone to ignore it. The problem gets worse and worse.

So, I'm proposing the "Reply Some." Similar to "Reply All," it will send a reply to many people on the original distribution. However, instead of everyone, a random subset will be alerted. How big a subset can be set either by the user, or the e-mail administrator. As people "Reply Some," the chain will go out to an ever-diminishing group, until it extinguishes on its own. This will help stop these issues, while still providing the cathartic effect of letting lots of people know you want off the list.

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It is November 3, Right?

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 08:11:06 -0500

People wonder why, by mid-December, I have no Christmas spirit. It’s ’cause the season is too long and too invasive.

This is becoming an annual post for me....

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Parallel Blogging

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sun, 01 Nov 2009 10:28:57 -0500

For the record, I have not given up on Vox. I have too many friends here, and a great community. I value that.

However, I'm also disappointed in that Vox seems to be stuck in place. Where other blogging sites are offering more powerful editors, apps for phones, and other tools to make this easier, my experience hasn't significantly changes much since 2006.

So, I'm trying out--just trying--Wordpress. I'll try to mirror things here (this is my home), but I want to see if there are things there that improve my experience to the point it makes it worth a change.

Again--this is just a trial. I intend to continue to participate in the Vox community.

You can find my Wordpress blog at:

http://mrguilt.wordpress.com/

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Pallas Kitten

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 12:28:46 -0400

Brown Amazon's post on Pallas Cats reminded me of a single Pallas Cat kitten who was born to the Cincinnati Zoo last summer. To keep him company, they paired him with a domestic kitten. I put up a picture, and thought I'd share. It was fun to watch them play together.

Pallas Kitten (and Kitten)

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Window View

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 19:36:31 -0400

Waving in the general direction of home.

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Spirit of Pigcinnati

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 18:34:03 -0400

CVG Terminal A

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Adding a Redhawk Tip Jar

nobody@vox.com(Mr. Guilt) — Sat, 24 Oct 2009 11:17:28 -0400

At Starbucks this morning, they had two tip jars, one for supports of the Big East Conference; another for the Big Ten. Miami University is in neither. I had to correct this situation.

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