The Prudent Hedonist

I’ve never really had much luck with root vegetables (I distrust vegetables when I can’t see the important part growing), but yesterday I dug up, cleaned, and hung about 70 or so bells of garlic, so maybe my luck is changing?

Some of the bells were smaller than I might have liked (especially the ones that I didn’t bother to re-cut the scapes on — scapes grow back… who knew?!), and I’m annoyed that I can’t find the notebook in which I carefully noted which of the three varieties that I bought from Territorial Seeds last fall were planted where.  But, all in all, I’m pretty happy with this little experiment.

For now at least — I’m still a little paranoid about the drying process.

It must say something about how badly I need this weekend to start that I can’t get any of these songs out of my head…

Har Mar Superstar – Tall Boy (Crack it open with me)

LMFAO – Shots (I still blame you for this, Willis)

Electric Six – Improper Dance (now with bonus Techno Viking!)

Not that I want to turn this blog into a place where I constantly whine about school, but I’d just like to state that I just ordered 2/3rds of my textbooks for first semester. They cost me $460, and it took a freaking spreadsheet to sort out which editions of which books go with which courses and are actually available on Amazon.

I guess I realize now how spoiled I was in grad school where the program admin just bought all our textbooks for us. (I still love you Kim!)

Anyways… here are six paper cranes, because it wouldn’t do to be behind after less than a week now, would it?

I wasn’t planning on starting with this 101 things to do in 1001 days so soon, but I found myself with a fair bit of free time this weekend and the motivation to get started on some of the things here, so I guess I’d better start today — otherwise I’d need to come up with more things.

What follows is a list of 101 things that I intend to accomplish by April 14th, 2013, 1001 days from now.  Why? I’ve realized of late that I need more practice in setting good goals (simple, measurable, achievable, results-oriented, and timely) and this seemed like a good way to think about what I really want to do with the next 2.7 or so years of my life — besides working to pay the bills, and furthering my education.

To be honest, this is a pretty ambitious list, given what my free time is going to look like soon.  So, I’m entering this project with permission to decide that I don’t have to do every last thing.  This is just a list of some things that are important to me, right now.

Legend: Italics means the thing is in progress, strikethrough means it’s done.

Adulthood

• 1 .   Reevaluate homeowners insurance
  • I’ve never really done a proper inventory of all of the valuable things I owned to make sure they are properly covered, in the event that something horrible happens.  I also didn’t modify the insured value of the house when I got the windows replaced.
• 2.    Get re-certified in CPR
  • The Red Cross just started sending me reminders.
• 3 .   Save 3/4 of the way to a new car (0.006%)
  • This will go faster, once #7 below is finished
• 4.    Get engaged
  • So gross.
• 5.    Make a will
• 6.    Make a living will
• 7.    Build emergency fund to 6 months (60%)
• 8 .   Talk to a financial planner
• 9 .   Donate 1 gallon of blood   (0/8 pints)
• 10.   Get my US and Canadian credit reports/scores
  • I haven’t really cared about my credit score since I bought the house. The US one should be pretty immaculate (I have much better credit habits now than 5-6 years ago), but  I should probably at least make sure there isn’t anything negative/inaccurate on there.

Culture

• 11.    Read Gravity’s Rainbow
• 12 .   Read Akira
• 13.    Watch Breakfast at Tiffany’s
• 14 .   Learn Rush’s music
  • Sometimes, I feel like a bad Canadian because I pretty much only knows the songs that are in Rock Band.
• 15 .   Watch the Evil Dead series
  • It’s my secret nerd shame that I haven’t actually _seen_ any of these movies.  I know what a boom-stick is though.
• 16.    Visit the Minnesota Institute of Arts

Education

• 17.    Finish my Master’s degree
  • I pretty much only have to come up with a topic for, and then actually write, a mini-thesis. I’m thinking that I might try to convince my advisor to let me do something that will mesh well with my legal education – like an examination of the current legal climate for intellectual property, or the like.
• 18.    Participate in Law Review contest
  • This is a little bit of insanity that happens immediately after exams in first year.  I wish I could skip it, but being on Law Review will be extremely important for my job prospects come 2014.
• 19.    Finish 2L year
  • At a part time pace, this should take me about 2.5 years.
• 20.    Buy new windows laptop for school
  
  • Technically, I bought one yesterday, but I’m not sure if I like it enough to keep it, yet.
• 21 .   Create a viable study space/sanctuary

Health and Fitness

• 22.    Get below 220lbs
• 23.    Do 100 pushups
• 24.    Do yoga 5 times
  • Basically, the idea is to decide if I like it.  Other people seem to like it, so…
• 25.    Ride my bicycle to work and back
• 26.    Find an exercise program/schedule that is compatible with work and school

Homebrewing

• 27.    Enter the MN State Fair home brew competition
  • Mainly to get impartial feedback on my beers, so I can gain more confidence.
• 28.    Brew a cider
• 29.    Brew an all grain beer
• 30.    Design better homebrew labels
• 31.    Become BJCP certified
  • Again, this is more about increasing my confidence in the quality of my home brew. Also, it is a good excuse to drink more beer.
• 32.    Convert both keggles
  • I obtained a couple of commercial beer kegs that Joe & Missy didn’t want in their house anymore, and, with Nerd 2’s help, I’m converting them into the most awesome brew kettle/mash tun pair possible (examples).  Today, I learned to use a plasma cutter to cut the lids off.

Crafts

• 33.    Enter a sweater at the state fair
• 34.    Sew/make and awesome costume for Halloween or Con
• 35.    Dye yarn at home
• 36.    Weave something
• 37.    Take a beading class
• 38.    Finish 7 sweaters or shawls (0/7)
  • I’ve got yarn for far more than that, I just lack time.
• 39.    Design and publish a knitting pattern
• 40.    Knit the Great American Afghan
  • Or maybe the Great American Aran Afghan
• 41.     Determine the amount of yarn I can knit in 1 year
• 42.    Reduce yarn stash to < 3 years worth

Food & Liquor

• 43.    Cure/smoke my own bacon
  • I picked up a 10lb pork belly from Osseo Meats this weekend, and today I started curing three 3lb slabs:
    • Basic Dry Cure (from Charcuturie)
    • Basic + Maple Syrup
    • Basic + Garlic, Bay Leaves, and Juniper Berries
• 44.    Make a list of 10 favourite cocktails, memorize how to make them (0/10)
• 45.    Make simple syrup, make something with it.
• 46.    Make sour mix, make something with it
• 47.    Make puff-puffs
  • A yummy Nigerian fry-bread variant
• 48.    Learn to appreciate scotch and whisk(e)y
  • It’s just distilled beer — why don’t I like it?
• 49.    Start my basic methods cookbook – 20 “recipes”
  • I like being able to throw recipes together using very simple guidelines. I figure other people might enjoy the same.
• 50.    Can things, eat them the following winter
• 51.    Decorate (and serve to other people!) cupcakes that I’m not ashamed of
• 52 .   Decorate (and serve to other people!) a cake that I’m not ashamed of
• 53.    Make hummus from raw garbanzos
  • The fact that I did this today is what is forcing me to edit/post this list now.
• 54.    Learn to make 3 different salsas
• 55.    Find a decent recipe for coleslaw
• 56.    Make kumbocha
• 57.    Make 10 pan sauces, at least one without followinga recipe (1/10)
  • they don’t have to be different, I just want to learn the process

Motorcyle

• 58.    Learn to change the oil on my motorcycle
• 59.    Install frame sliders on my motorcycle
• 60.    Take a 200 mile ride on my motorcycle
• 61.     Take a 400 mile ride on my motorcycle

Miscellaneous Hobbies

• 62.    Make a firework that both leaves the ground and explodes (and is a pretty colour)
  • This is probably the most dangerous, illegal, and fun item on this list.
• 63.    Buy a bass guitar
• 64.    Learn to play bass guitar
  • I need a better definition of “done” for this one, I’m thinking it will be something along the lines of learning the bass line to Tank! (the Cowboy Bebop Theme) and a couple of other good bass songs of my choosing.
• 65.    Find a geocache
• 66.    Learn to weld

House

• 67.    Clear off soffits in kitchen, destash or reorganize the stuff that’s up there
• 68.    Develop a spice organization system
• 69.    Organize digital music – ID3 tags, album art, playlists
• 70.    Rearrange living room
  • I have a plan, but it involves moving a 55 gallon fish tank, and a 40″ CRT TV from the late 80s.  This is not something to be undertaken lightly.
• 71.    Organize library
• 72.    Build a deck
• 73.    Buy a new tv or projector
• 74.    Finish the basement bathroom
• 75.    Paint the basement living room
• 76.    Fix landscaping in front of the house
• 77.    Revive dead front lawn
• 78.    Take 5 pictures worthy of framing and hanging up on my wall
• 79.    Buy a new office chair
• 80.    Deal with the basketcase  in the garage
  • Left behind by my ex, apparently it’s most of the pieces to a late seventies Harley Sportster.

Random

• 81.    Fold 1000 paper cranes (0/1000)
  • Yes, I get a day off

Social

• 82.    Host a LAN party
• 83.    Host a movie night
• 84.    Host a dinner party
• 85.    Throw a surprise party for someone

Tech/Geeky

• 86.    Publish a smartphone app
• 87.   143 blog posts (average of one per week) (0/143)
• 88.   Learn basic strategies to not suck at Starcraft 2 or another RTS
• 89.    Set up media/file server PC
• 90.    Improve my graphic design and web tech skills enough to design a custom theme for the blog
• 91.    Write a 101 things widget for wordpress
• 92.    Attend a technical user group meeting
• 93.    Sell/Donate Toshiba Satellite

Travel

• 94.    Go to Japan
  • Given that Nerd 2 and I are both in school now, this is probably ambitious.  It might end up being planned as a mutual graduation present.
• 95.    Go backpacking
• 96.    Visit 3 national parks
• 97.    Visit Lake Itasca
• 98.    Visit the BWCA

Work

• 99.    Read The Now Habit and Getting Things Done
• 100.    Make an intentional job switch within my software engineering career
• 101.    Write honest feedback for the person who needs feedback written

Acknowledgments: Thanks to Dan for introducing me to the idea, and Jenni and Wendy for taking the idea and running with it.  I’m pretty sure that I’ve got lots of stuff on here that was inspired by (if not stolen whole-cloth) from their lists.

What’s capers… eh?

Given that I finally made a dish with capers for the first time ever yesterday, Nerd 2 and I got to speculating about what exactly they were — besides “mad delicious”.

We both hoped they were some kind of plant material, as opposed to:

• Gecko gall bladders
• Avian appendices
• Snail heads (given their “gourmet” nature we suspected that they might be French)
• The new Eye of Bat-ness
• Jellyfish amygdalas
• or Poop, of some sort

Turns out that they are flowerbuds.  Which is good to know.

It’s been a month.

Well, more than a month, but June this has been a pretty eventful June, so how about a roundup?

Since June 1st, 2010 I’ve:

• Turned 32. Not an age that cares many portents to it (it’s 33 that I intend to both beware of, and stay forever), but another year living nonetheless.
• Took a week off of work for the pure purpose of chillaxation.
• Gone on my first real grown-up business trip — one that reminded me why I love software development, and caused me pause in my decision to stop doing it.
• Laid tile.
• Co-opted Nerd 2’s PS3
• Played too much of the same video game.
• Booked a trip to take Nerd 2 home to meet the ‘rents.
• Made a budget that has me: maxing out my retirement contributions, funding emergency & vacation funds, and paying cash for a fast convertible the day I get my JD, all while not living like a pauper (the secret? buy less yarn).
• Read a book that while not depressing per se, made me fairly unhappy — though I’d totally recommend it, especially if you are a fan of The Police.
• Considered joining in on this 101 in 1001 meme that’s been going around.  The idea of forcing myself to set SMART goals is intriguing, but I hate to-do lists almost as much as Jenni loves them — and you know how good I am at finishing projects that I start on the Internet.  So we’ll see. Right now I have 15 things… and the list would make a lot more sense if I was aiming for mid 2014, as opposed to Q1 2013.
• Watched Star Wars episodes IV-VI back to back.
• Felt vaguely guilty about not posting enough on this blog.
• Considered whether it was reasonable in any shape or form to have the nervous breakdown before starting law school.
• Decided it wasn’t.
• Drank a lot of beers at a beer fest.
• Participated in an awesome 3-Day Fundraiser, bringing in over $1200.
• Graduated myself into Level 2 belly dance classes.
• Made this long introspective list, intending to pass it off as valid and interesting web content.

So it’s not like I’ve been completely slacking. Just ignoring you… see?

It’s a good week for the poor cheap frugal geeks among us who are too terrified of the beautiful weather we finally have to go outside.

First, the Humble Indie Bundle got extended.  Five indie games (including the unbelievably awesome/addictive World of Goo) are on sale (and open source, if you care about such things) for however much you want to pay.  The proceeds are split between the developers and two worthwhile charities – The Electronic Frontier Foundation, and Child’s Play.

So, if you like to play PC games at all,  or you care about your digital rights at all, or you think that it would be nice for sick kids in hospitals to be able to play a game or two at all, you should head over the the site and pony up however much you think is appropriate.  But you should probably do it today, because there are less than 24 hours left in the event.  You can gift the download codes too…

Secondly, Valve has finally ported Steam to MacOS, and are celebrating by giving away the outstanding Portal (for both PC and Mac) for nothing at all.  This means that those of you out there who are obsessed with Companion Cubes, but don’t even really know what Companion Cubes are no longer have any excuse except to find out.

Also, I’d like some cake, plz.

This list of breweries in MN (via MNBeer) is interesting to me for a few different reasons:

• The huge gulf between macro (Summit @ 82k) and micro (Surly @ 4k) breweries
• The fact that Surly is the highest producing microbrewery in MN right now.
• The fact that Crispin is apparently not brewed here.

Last weekend, Nerd 2 and I ventured to the Minneapolis Farmer’s Market.  I mainly wanted to see what I could find for fresh veggies, but Nerd 2 was determined to jump the gun and buy tomato and pepper plants, which he insisted on planting ASAP, of course.

Tonight, they are forecasting up to three inches of snow for our section of Hedoburbia.

It’s a good thing that the epic Friends School Plant Sale is this weekend, so the long, slow, road to recovery can begin.

Not to be confused with D.A.R.Y.L.

As a girl who went through 3 generations of Apple Newtons (including the limited edition clear MessagePad 110), I’ve been pretty skeptical of smartphones for the past few years. As a student, I loved having a PDA. It made keeping track of classes easier, and the MP2000 with the keyboard accessory was actually pretty good for taking notes.

I wasn’t purely an Apple fangirl either, I dabbled with Palms (the m500 was so very sleek), and even made the jump to Windows Mobile (WinCE, at the time) with my beloved Cassiopeia (colour! compact flash! it was like the future). But by the time I started working full time, I realized that having a separation between work-life and actual life was very important to me, and having my office synced up to a device that I had with me 24/7 was not good for that separation.  In addition, most of the devices and the available apps for them were very business/calendar focused, and I didn’t need something so complicated to manage my personal life.

Fast-forward to the release of the iPhone. It was pretty, no doubt. And Apple was definitely targeting it more for “home” use, having ceded the business end of that market to RIM and Microsoft for a while.  I’ll admit, as I heard about the apps available for it, I considered taking the plunge — my phone service was already with AT&T, though I was sans-data plan.  But the way that Apple chose to lock down developer freedoms with the App Store gave me pause.  The fact that the iPhone wasn’t open probably wouldn’t really affect my use of it at all, but it just rubbed me the wrong way. And I couldn’t shake the feeling that the Personal Digital Assistant paradigm was still fundamentally flawed.

But why all this talk about dead platforms and obsolete devices? I’ve had Darryl the Droid (blame Nerd 2 for the name) for a couple of days now (Costco has a deal on, if you’re interested), and of all the devices and all the phones I’ve had over the years, this is the first one I’ve used that has felt like what the Newton Messagepad wanted to be (but couldn’t, because this was the nineties, people). I wonder if Steve Jobs will ever be humble enough to call up John Sculley and admit: “Hey… you were right.” The PDA is back, baby.

HedoCorp got hit hard by the #McAfail (is that trending yet?) today.  I was in a meeting at 9 when the announcement came over the PA system to please unplug our computers from the network.

By the time the meeting ended at 10, my machine was already in an endless loop of rebooting. So I cleaned my cube. Then went to lunch. Then had another meeting about stuff that it would be great to add to a slide deck if only we could use our computers.  Then came home.  That was the first issue.

Once home, I decided to take care of some business at the local Driver and Vehicle Services office.  Some of you may be aware that the state of Minnesota believes that somehow it can better secure its assets (the Mall of America?) from the terrorists by putting information about legal immigrants current status on their driver’s licenses — it’s called a “Status Check” date.  I wouldn’t be totally against it, if they would get this information from the feds themselves, but no, the best way to implement this is obviously to inconvenience the license holder.  Which for me, given my current slot in the queue, means going in about once a year.

These trips annoy me, so today I tried to game things a little by presenting the document that pretty much gives me the right to hang out here indefinitely, instead of my passport as they expected, hoping that I could save myself future visits.  Big mistake.  Apparently giving low-level bureaucrats forms that they don’t recognize means that you may (or may not) get your license reissued at all. Even if you also give them your passport and promise to just come back next year.

I tried to take the nonconforming form back from her and she nearly took my hand off: “NOW THAT YOU’VE SHOWN IT TO ME I HAVE TO SEND IT IN!”.  So we’ll see how that goes… that was the second issue.

The third issue was also DVS related, though less involved.  Some bastard already has 101010 as their vanity plate in the state of MN.  I hope they use it wisely — Beauty and I are back to the drawing board W.R.T. her tramp-stamp.

Lastly — it turns out that paper drop cloths, Rust-o-leum Dry Erase Paint, and stained pine kegerator collars don’t mix well at all.  The “fiddly cosmetic issues”that I had to fix with The Beer Machine are now fairly major: involving bits of paper stuck to the fridge lid, and white paint spots on my pretty mahogony collar.  I’m hoping that Nerd 2 will come home and suggest something magic having to do with sand paper or mineral spirits that will make it all better, but I’m pretty sure that another coat of stain is in my future.

I might hate stain almost as much as I do paint.

The one thing that did go well today? Well, since I came home so early, I decided to put in the final push of effort required to get my application to school finish.  So it’s done and sent out (though I need to mail them one photocopy tomorrow.   I try not to believe in omens, but with everything else against me today… maybe the admissions gods will smile down upon me in the next week or so?