For our friends, family and you : Not Baby Related

Peanut Butter Cups

jason — Thu, 13 Dec 2007 02:08:00 GMT

As a kid, and even a college student (and even at that point I was still a kid by Henry Link's definition), my Grandpa & Grandma Wood always had peanut butter cups at their house when I visited. I love peanut butter cups.

I never gave it much thought as a youngster and I suppose that I just assumed my grandparents always kept peanut butter cups in their house. I think I know better now.

Thank you for all of the peanut butter cups, G&G. But more importantly, thank you for the memories that always bring a smile to my face.

What's with the DonorsChoose widget in the sidebar?

jason — Fri, 05 Oct 2007 15:43:00 GMT

DonorsChoose.org is an organization that helps school teachers find funding for classroom projects that regular school budgets cannot cover. It's pretty simple and works like this:

Teachers post their project funding requests
DonorsChoose.org validates the request
Regular people like you contribute money to fund the project

I've found some projects that I think are worthy of funding and I'm inviting you to help these teachers create new opportunities for their students. If you don't like any projects that I've selected, that's ok, there are thousands of other projects that need funding and I'll bet that at least one will be near & dear to your heart.

"Stuff" holds me back

jason — Thu, 15 Mar 2007 01:24:00 GMT

While driving home tonight, the lyrics of a song on the radio struck a chord with me:

If I ain't got nothing, I've got nothing to hold me back

When I left my high paying job at Compuware to start my own company, I was 24, renting a house, driving a $1,000 beat-up Jeep (my computer was worth more than my car) and sitting on the same furniture I bought when I furnished my first college apartment. I had little fear about leaving my fancy Compuware job, even considering I took a 50% pay cut when I left. I figured I had nothing to lose...what was the worse that would happen? I'd fail, run out of money and have to go get another job. Big deal.

I remember that same year "gambling" wildly in the stock market using margin on my Datek account, thinking nothing of buying tens of thousands of dollars of stock. I made some money and lost some too. I even lost $19,193 in a single day, but like leaving my Compuware job, I basically shrugged my shoulders and kept on trading. If I lost it all, it would be disappointing, but it wouldn't be the end of the world...after all, it was only money.

Fast forward to today; I'm 32, I own a house, have a few "big boy" toys, have kids, have some money tucked away and am comfortable in my job, daily routine, lifestyle, etc. I'm also no longer carefree, and I've realized that I'm also ridiculously risk averse - too risk averse. How did this happen?!?

Friends have told me that it's a result of growing older and wiser. But today I'm questioning whether it's really wisdom, or rather just plain fear - fear of losing stuff. That's the funny thing about stuff and me, the more I've acquired, the less risk I'm willing to take for fear that I might lose some stuff.

I don't like that part of who I'm becoming. Life isn't as much fun without the thrill that comes with trying something new, something risky. Having few toys and modest belongings isn't very sexy, but it leaves the doors to adventure and risk wide open, and that sure is appealing to me.

So, my young cousins (you know who you are) just starting out on your quest to acquire oodles of stuff, consider that if you ain't got nothing, you've got nothing to lose.

Put your camera (or GPS, iPod, etc.) in a ziploc bag before heading inside on cold days

jason — Sun, 25 Feb 2007 12:15:00 GMT

January and February have been frigid months in Michigan, but that hasn't stopped me from taking my digital cameras outside to snap a few pictures. Usually when I go back inside, condensation immediately forms on the cameras, making them unusable until they reach ambient temperature and the condensation evaporates. Today I ran across a useful cold weather photography tip from Bob Atkins on the Adorama.com site:

You can avoid problems if you seal your camera gear in an airtight plastic bag before you bring it inside. It will then be surrounded only by the very dry air from outdoors. You may get some condensation on the outside of the bag, but the camera/lens will slowly warm up in dry air inside the bag and will stay dry. Self sealing freezer bags work well for this, but any bag which you can seal will be OK. Just be sure to put the camera/lens in the bag before you go indoors. Once you're indoors, it's too late!

I tried it - it works.

My new favorite kitchen gadget makes steaks incredibly tender and flavorful

jason — Mon, 19 Feb 2007 16:43:00 GMT

Last year I discovered a kitchen gadget that has made my ribeye and sirloin steaks more tender than a young girl's heart, and has eliminated the need to use a knife when enjoying my Chicken Marsala. I used to employ a fork to poke hundreds of holes into my steak to improve its tenderness and to drive the rub spices deeper into the meat. It worked ok, but when cooking more than a couple of steaks, the fork method takes too much time. To tenderize my Chicken Marsala, I used a mallet style meat tenderizer, but that was a messy affair since inevitably the plastic wrap I used to keep the chicken "juice" contained would tear, causing juices to spatter the kitchen cabinets, counter and walls.

The Deni meat tenderizer is worthy of accolades usually reserved for medical breakthroughs. 48 stainless steel blades (or 16 on the single row version) can tenderize a 3/4" thick, 14 oz ribeye in about 10 seconds; I would've spent three minutes achieving the same result with the fork method. Turning a boneless chicken breast into barely recognizable version of its original self takes only about 10 strokes of the 48 blades; it would take at least 40 whacks with my mallet tenderizer to get a breast ready to cook.

I like the darned thing so much I gave two of them as Christmas gifts this year to fellow culinary enthusiasts. Here you can see the Deni Meat Tenderizer in action.

Another beef cooking tip - don't pack your meatballs or burgers tightly

jason — Tue, 13 Feb 2007 14:50:00 GMT

I usually use 1/3 of a pound of beef for a single patty and I used to pack them very tightly, so my pre-grilled burgers were at least the size of a normal coffee saucer and 1/4" thick; the post-grilled patties would fill an average bun. Even though I generally use 75/25 beef for burgers, they still end up a little dry for my taste. After some research and trial & error, I've finally figured out that my burgers were so dry because I was packing them too tightly.

Now I still use between 1/4 and 1/3 of a pound of beef per patty, but I very lightly pack the patties. The pre-grilled patties are now about 3/4 the diameter of their "tightly packed" cousins and are approximately 1/2" thick. I also add a nice dimple in the middle of each to hold my Lea & Perrins Worcestershire sauce while they grill. Now my burgers turn out much juicier and still fill an average size bun.

I've also applied the lightly packing tactic to my meatballs with equally satisfying results. So if your burgers, meatballs and other compressed ground beef dishes are a little on the dry side, try using less muscle the next time you prepare them.

Free deer - you pick up.

jason — Sat, 28 Oct 2006 19:29:00 GMT

I didn't intend for the blog to take on a "Things in my front yard" theme, but it seems that objects just keep showing up. Yesterday I pulled in the driveway after work and saw a big brown & white fuzzy blob laying in the back yard. "Looks like a deer," I thought.

It was a deer - a dead deer. Perhaps the turtle attacked it?

The tree has produced its first lemon

jason — Sat, 25 Feb 2006 00:29:00 GMT

Finally, after diligently watering, pruning, fertilizing and providing ample T.L.C., my Myer's lemon tree has produced its first viable lemon. I bought the tree in May of 2004 and it's bloomed at least 4 times since. During those blooms it produced little lemons, but none that matured. While the blooms were fragrant, I couldn't sink my teeth into them. The lemon you're seeing here first appeared around July and grew to about 3" in diameter by November. I wasn't sure how to tell if it was...(read more)

No time to write

jason — Thu, 01 Dec 2005 23:44:00 GMT

Wow, it's hard to believe that it's been three months already, but on Tuesday the girls were 12 weeks old. I'm still amazed at how much time and work these two little dandies require and that's the reason I haven't posted anything new to the blog in the past couple of months. My life experiences in the past two months hasn't been blog-worthy anyway.

By the way, I didn't win anything fantastic, or at least that's what Erin told me when she looked with her colorific eyes.

Did I win??

jason — Wed, 05 Oct 2005 00:13:00 GMT

I'm color blind. That doesn't mean that I see in black in white (yes, I have had people ask me that), but I do have trouble distinguishing between shades of certain colors, especially green and red. Normally, this doesn't present too many problems for me, except that I can't be a fighter pilot nor would it be wise for me to try to earn a living defusing bombs. Since I've always been color blind, I've learned to adapt quite well. Every now and then though, I do encounter a situation where I'm up the creek until a color-endowed visionary can come to my rescue. Yesterday I had such an event.

I needed a couple of new light bulbs for some recessed lights in my hallway. At the Home Depot I picked up a couple of GE Reveal 65 watt R30 light bulbs. As I was doing the self-checkout routine, I noticed that on the package was an instant 75 cents off coupon. I peeled it off and beneath the coupon was a super secret decoder tool to use on http://www.geswitchandwin.com. It said to visit the site, register and then use the super secret decoder to see a special code on their website that would reveal whether I'd won a fantastic prize. Maybe my own private island, or a spectacular beach house on Grand Cayman??

I dashed home, super secret decoder in hand, anxious to see what marvelous fortune awaited me. I promptly opened my dependable IBM ThinkPad and hastily typed in the URL. I dutifully punched in all of my personal information so that GE could add me to their massive junk mail machine. I patiently waited for the site to process my information and then, just like in the movies, the magical super secret graphic appeared on my screen. I whipped out the super secret decoder and held it over the super secret graphic and guess what I saw?

NOTHING!

How could this be? I was feeling lucky, there was magic in the air. Surely I had won something fantastic. Then I had a light bulb moment (ha, good pun). My decoder had to be defective. Fortunately, I had bought two light bulbs (hah, I'm so smart!). So I snagged my other super secret decoder and held it up to the screen. Wallah, this time guess what I saw?

NOTHING!

Ok, time to end the story. I finally figured out that the problem was that someone with red/green color blindness cannot see the super secret code in the super secret graphic even with the super secret decoder. Now, as someone who has helped to develop scores of successful, user-friendly websites, I know that it is important to understand your audience and how they will use your website. Part of understanding your audience is identifying any characteristics or situations that may prevent the audience from using critical parts of your website. Unfortunately, it doesn't look like the designers on this GE site analyzed their audience and identified that color blind users (which there are probably more than a few) would not be able to use this key part of the website. Or, perhaps they did identify it and just didn't care. :)

So, can someone tell me if I need to pack my bags and buy a one way ticket to Grand Cayman?

Ring.Ring.Click.

jason — Sat, 19 Mar 2005 13:04:00 GMT

Last night, Erin and I volunteered to help raise money for Shults-Lewis Children's Home during their annual telephone fund raising campaign. Neither of us has superb telemarketing skills, so we didn't go in with real high expectations that we'd set any fundraising records, but I thought we'd do at least $500. I believe our combined total for the evening was about $150...a far cry from what I had hoped.

We were calling people who had either donated before, or had some affiliation with Shults-Lewis that landed them on a "prospect" list. We worked from a script, which we modified to suit our own style, and asked people if they could pledge a specific amount that they could contribute sometime during 2005. Our goal was to get a $20/month committment, though Erin and I were only able to get one-time gifts. If someone offers a pledge, then Schults Lewis will send them a self-addressed stampled envelope to return their check, or they can pay online at their website.

Here are a few things I learned about the 100 or so people on my list:

Approximately 90% of the people are either out on Friday night, or simply do not answer their phones
Of the 10% who answer, 5% rudely hang up while you're talking
1% need better hearing aids
About 6% of the people "support other charities" so are not interested in supporting this one
Approximately 2% give through their church to support Shults-Lewis, though only 11% of Schults Lewis's operating budget comes from church donations
Roughly 2% of the people I was able to reach were happy to donate
The last, most important tidbit of information I learned -- you can always count on your mother. I put Erin up to calling my Mom and she came through with our biggest donation of the night. Thanks, Mom! :)
For all those other relatives of mine who weren't home (or just weren't answering my call), I've still got your number, and you cannot escape from all of my calls ;)