Public Works

On Vox: iPhone Tester, Day One

Thu, 10 Dec 2009 04:14:01 GMT

Well, I'm now the temporary owner of an iPhone, as part of a test to see how/where AT&T - the phone's exclusive carrier - needs to improve. I have to take a bunch of photos and videos at various locations and then email them off to a special website. Then I had the phone off to someone else.

It's taking a while to figure out how to use the device, since I've never owned one. It's fun, but the novelty is wearing off pretty fast.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: When Good Yeast Goes Bad

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 17:41:53 GMT

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Snow. Yes, That's Right

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:48:00 GMT

Thought it would never get here.

First Snow

View from my window:

Screened In

Brrrr! But it's not winter without it.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Take THAT, 2009

Mon, 07 Dec 2009 00:43:40 GMT

I normally don't fuss about Christmas, but after this year I wanted a little holiday cheer to keep me going until the end of December. That meant a Christmas tree and assorted decorations, but done on the cheap and with minimal effort.

It was not an auspicious beginning. I decided to dig an artificial tree I had out of the attic, where it had sat for two years. I found the first part, the base and lower "branches," but not the top. I looked. I really looked. I even asked my husband to help me look. No go. Should we just go out and get a real tree, we wondered? Did I feel like doing that?

No. Call me a grinch, but I ended up getting another fake tree. It was cheap. It was six feet tall. Mostly, though, it was DRY. It was pissing rain most of yesterday, and tree sellers were looking a little sodden, along with their branch-ey boughs.

I set it up this morning. Not a bad little thing and my (Jewish) husband had a good time poking fun at me. He was a good sport about it, though. He came out with me in the cold and in the rain to get the thing and bring it home. Decorating it was on me, though.

But, hey, he liked it!

Add a tree with lights and ornaments, a glass of wine, and I think I might survive until 2010.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Come to Asia! Watch Star Trek! Drink Juice!

Wed, 18 Nov 2009 04:43:39 GMT

I indulged my Star Trek sweet tooth this evening, and tried to find episodes of The Next Generation. That entire series has gone missing on US video outlets, although earlier and subsequent versions of the Star Trek saga are there for the taking.

Well, I finally found what I was looking for, but not without some effort. For whatever reason, I can watch video streams of the series - all seven seasons - from either China or Korea. The shows are subtitled rather than dubbed, fortunately. I caught up with Captain Picard and his crew for one episode and intend to check in with more of the same.

It's a pretty bizarre feed, in that it stops, then starts, then stops, then starts. That signal must be traveling quite a long way to get to my computer here in Boston! After a while the signal sorts itself out and there's less interruption.

The commercials are a hoot. At one point an exultant Chinese (Korean?) couple are dancing around a beach singing the praises of some type of fruit juice. I have no idea what's going on there, but an ad is an ad wherever you go, I guess.

So, I got an hour of Star Trek, surrounded by Asian calligraphy and tacky commercials. There was even a little cartoon guy in the lower right hand side of the screen, drinking his juice. But, hey - I got to see Romulans, Klingons, Federation guys and the Starship Enterprise in its 1980s recreation. I'll drink to that!

Star Trek

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Ever So, Oh So, Aggavated

Thu, 12 Nov 2009 21:25:46 GMT

Okay, I should be grateful. The Commonwealth of Massachusetts has far more generous benefits than most states for those seeking aid from the outrageous expense of health insurance.

Turns out my household is eligible for assistance, based on our income and employment status. This is a mixed blessing, but what the hell.

I think, though, that the Commonwealth could be a bit smarter about it. For example, we're reimbursed after we pay the entire cost of insurance per month. That's over $1,000.00 per month for us. Now you guys from outside the US, pick up those jaws. Okay. It's a royal pain, but what the hell.

On top of this, a copy of the front and back of a canceled check is required for proof of payment of that outrageous premium. Problem is, my bank no longer provides a copy of the front and back of a canceled check. They haven't done that in years. Most banks here don't, and haven't in years. So, I have to contact the bank, every month, to get a photocopy of the front and back. The originals are destroyed. But, what the hell.

Then, hubby dear barges in on my work day, insists I do all of this right at this very moment, even though I have deadlines and haven't heard peep one about any of this beforehand.

This is where I reach for a bottle of wine. This is where "what the hell" reaches its limits. Thank goodness I have a backup in a long-stemmed glass, or someone would be flying out of a window right now.

I'm sure I'll be fine by tomorrow. Or maybe just later today, after glass two.

Aaargh.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Super Size Me - Not!

Fri, 06 Nov 2009 02:45:18 GMT

I just saw a film I've heard about for years: Super Size Me. It's about a journalist/film maker who eats nothing but food from MacDonald's for an entire month. If a clerk asks if he wants to "super size" the meal, he says yes.

In the space of 30 days his body goes haywire, both physically and mentally. His liver begins to fail, his cholesterol shoots through the roof, he gains over 20 pounds. He is exhausted all the time. His mood starts to swing and he encounters bouts of depression. He then gets headaches if he doesn't eat more of the fast food.

This guy was extraordinarily healthy. He went and checked in with several physicians and nutritionists. He was normal weight and in extremely good health. His girlfriend was a vegan chef. Their normal diet was healthy to the max.

The change in this man's health amazed, depressed and disturbed me. Basically, he adopted the level of exercise most Americans get, and ate an exclusive diet of fast food. I'd recommend anyone who can see this film. You can get it for free on sites like hulu.com.

Amazing. Disturbing. Essential.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Sound Effects...No, Seriously

Wed, 04 Nov 2009 01:41:36 GMT

You ever have one of those days when you feel like doing jack s***? That was me today, listlessly pressing one button after another on my computer and barely getting the energy up to make dinner. I started a Stephen King novel, but decided that blood'n guts was not what my laggard brain required. So, I didn't write anything new, didn't read anything new, didn't do...well, jack.

Maybe I needed the down time. All that recent brain activity has plum tuckered me out. So, there I was sitting downstairs with a rather gory novel and wondering if that was really what I wanted to do in an evening. My husband brought me some treats in the form of chocolate and perhaps that endorphin boost was behind the next inspiration.

I was browsing this-and-that websites today, part of my normal Margy-the-computer-consultant routine, when I came across some sites that contained public domain pictures, videos and audio. In other words, take 'em, they're free! I was particularly enchanted by one site containing thousands of free sounds effects. You know, people walking, crowds in restaurants, chainsaws. Everything a brain dead computer sycophant might desire for a night of playing.

So, I played. And here's what I came up with.

This is a great way to start a day:

Wake Up Call

But then, we all can't wake up in a pasture. Usually, I just hear this:

Arlington at Midnight

Ah yes, city life. And, I've found the perfect sound for all my wedded nights:

I Got Married for This?

What, you think we're sexy at our age. Please. As soon as the hubby starts sawing wood, here's what I feel like saying:

Tell Me It Isn't So!

Okay, okay. I've pestered you enough with my latest entertainments. But, wait, one last sound. It's my absolute favorite:

Got'cha!

Tha...tha...tha,that's all, folks!

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: To All On This Spooky October Night...

Sun, 01 Nov 2009 00:58:01 GMT

Happy Halloween!

20081031_0277

Bwahahahahahahahahahahaha!

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Happy Halloween!

Wed, 28 Oct 2009 23:43:44 GMT

Sad but sweet: I found this on YouTube:

Baby Ghoulie - Halloween Animation

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: The Colors of Fall

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:46:17 GMT

Mincemeat Fixings

New England is a colorful place in the fall, even in the kitchen. I made up a batch of green tomato mincemeat, an absolutely fabulous meat-free mincemeat recipe that's sweet, tart and rich all at the same time. The recipe calls for dried cherries, so there's a wonderful aftertaste of these as well. It's everything you'd expect in a mincemeat and is second-to-none, particularly if you make the pie with a home made crust.

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Ingredients

3 lbs green tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 lbs tart apples, coarsely chopped, with skin

3 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

10 oz currants

6 oz dried tart cherries

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup chopped, crystallized ginger

2 oranges, cut into slices, seeded

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp ground mace

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 juniper berries, cracked (optional)

Directions

Place the tomatoes in a large stockpot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and blanch for 4 - 5 minutes. Drain.

Add all the remaining ingredients. Mix well and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Let the mincemeat cool. Remove the orange slices and cinnamon sticks and transfer to a covered container. Store in refrigerator for up to one week, or freeze for several months.

Recipe from "Great Good Food: Luscious Lower-Fat Cooking," by Julee Rosso

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: The Colors of Fall

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:45:56 GMT

Mincemeat Fixings

Green Tomato Mincemeat

Ingredients

3 lbs green tomatoes, coarsely chopped

1 1/2 lbs tart apples, coarsely chopped, with skin

3 1/3 cups packed light brown sugar

10 oz currants

6 oz dried tart cherries

1 cup cider vinegar

1/2 cup chopped, crystallized ginger

2 oranges, cut into slices, seeded

2 cinnamon sticks

1 tsp ground mace

1 tsp ground cloves

1 tsp ground nutmeg

2 juniper berries, cracked (optional)

Directions

Place the tomatoes in a large stockpot and cover with water. Bring to a boil and blanch for 4 - 5 minutes. Drain.

Add all the remaining ingredients. Mix well and bring to a boil over medium heat. Reduce the heat and simmer for 1 1/2 hours, stirring occasionally.

Let the mincemeat cool. Remove the orange slices and cinnamon sticks and transfer to a covered container. Store in refrigerator for up to one week, or freeze for several months.

Recipe from "Great Good Food: Luscious Lower-Fat Cooking," by Julee Rosso

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: My Inspiration For The Day

Thu, 22 Oct 2009 00:17:08 GMT

"The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward." Amelia Earhart.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Larry Goes To The Market

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 18:46:50 GMT

Drunkest Guy Ever: Silent Film (Larry goes to the market)

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: There Are Some Things Men DO Remember

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:34:55 GMT

A woman awakes during the night to find that her husband is not in bed. Concerned, she puts on her robe and goes downstairs to look for him. She finds him sitting at the kitchen table with a hot cup of coffee in front of him. He appears to be in very deep thought, just staring at the wall. She watches as he wipes a tear from his eye and takes a sip of his coffee.

"What's the matter, dear?" she whispers as she steps into the room. "Why are you down here at this time of night?"

The husband looks up from his coffee. "Do you remember 20 years ago when we were dating, and you were only 16?" he asks solemnly.

"Yes, I do "she replies, touched to tears that her husband is so caring and sensitive.

The husband pauses. The words were not coming easily. "Do you remember when your father caught us in the back seat of my car?"

"Yes, I remember…" said the wife, lowering herself into the chair beside him.

The husband continued: "Do you remember when he shoved the shotgun in my face and said, 'Either you marry my daughter, or I will send you to jail for 20 years?' "

"I remember that too," she replied softly.

He wipes another tear from his cheek and says…

…"I would have gotten out today.”

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: The Long, Long Days of Fiction

Tue, 20 Oct 2009 03:23:31 GMT

I've been pushing my brain over to the fiction side. It's taken a long time to assemble some plot threads, but I finally made the breakthrough and hope the rest goes more quickly. I re-wrote the ending of one chapter and tomorrow plan to revise the chapter after that. I should then be able to go on to new material, now that some of the twists in the plot have been improved.

I ended up solving a major problem by revising a character slightly, turning her from a paralegal into a fund-raiser for a local non-profit organization. I needed the skill set for plot continuity. I have to tell you, it was quite an ego trip to turn my character's life around at whim. As I was taking a shower tonight I had a mental image of my character flying out of a law office and landing ass-first in the development department of a charity. There - done!

I only wish real life were this malleable. This career doesn't work? Poof! Here's another one.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Now, Is That Beautiful or What?

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:08:22 GMT

I decided to get started on my apple cooking/baking projects, starting with an apple pie. I used a pre-made pie crust, since I wasn't in the mood for that extravagant a project, but the results were visually stunning. I pulled the pie out of the oven and viola!

Apple Pie

I had apples left over, so I threw together an Apple Brown Betty and just popped that into the oven.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Downtime in My POS Kitchen

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 21:05:49 GMT

POS? Piece of s***. That's my one and only work area. Grrrrr.

POS Kitchen

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: The Fun Theory

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 16:02:58 GMT

What a neat idea! And it worked (at least in Sweden):

Piano stairs - Rolighetsteorin.se - The fun theory

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Johnny Appleseed, stem and core

Mon, 12 Oct 2009 02:40:56 GMT

Today was our annual pilgrimage to apple country for some fresh air, rural views and lots of opportunities for picking apples. I love to cook and Aram's been making noises about apple cider as well. We shall see!

Loaded up on Northern Spies, with some representation by Cox's Orange Pippin (which I'm told is popular in England) and Spencer apples. Took a bunch of pics (of course!), and will have some apple recipes up as soon as I've done a bit of baking.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Chicken Pot Pie - Old Fashioned Style

Thu, 01 Oct 2009 00:57:32 GMT

Chicken Pot Pie Sign

I made a humongous roast chicken the other day and had tons of leftovers as a result. Since it's starting to get colder, I decided to put together a chicken pot pie. I had some frozen pie crusts - my one concession to "store bought" - and decided I'd use that to top the pie.

The chicken was extremely juicy, so I had plenty of broth on hand to create the sauce. Here's the recipe I used, adapted from the Fannie Farmer cookbook.

Chicken Pot Pie

6 tbs butter

6 tbs flour

2 cups home made chicken broth

1 cup evaporated milk or heavy cream

4 cups diced, cooked chicken

2 large carrots, diced and cooked

3/4 cup peas

1 9" pie shell

Salt and pepper, to taste

Directions

Preheat oven to 425 degrees F

Melt butter in a large saucepan. Add flour gradually and cook for 2 minutes.

Gradually add chicken broth and milk or cream. Stir until thickened, about 5 minutes

Add chicken, carrots and peas to chicken broth mixture. Combine thoroughly

Pour mixture into a deep-dish pie plate or casserole. Place pie shell over top, crimping edges. Cut slashes into top of pie shell.

Bake pie for 25-30 minutes, until top is crusty and brown

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Get Your Galoshes Out

Tue, 29 Sep 2009 03:57:46 GMT

It's pouring sheets, has been since earlier this evening. Just stopped to double-check email before falling into bed and - maybe - actually sleeping. Suddenly, fffsssssssssssshhhhhhhhhhhh...down came the rain. Quite the sound.

Lots more predicted for tomorrow.

Tomorrow will be a fiction writing day! Yes, I've started carving out actual time to start doing this again. Hooray!

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Blind-Sided

Mon, 28 Sep 2009 02:02:37 GMT

I had a visit from my blind friend, Rosie, this week. We gossiped, met friends, went over some writing stuff and rambled here and there.

Traveling with a blind person is an interesting experience, and not the easiest thing in the world to do. In Rosie's case, she walked to my left and slightly behind. Her left hand was on my right shoulder.

Your mental senses aren't really used to clearance "for two." Even after all this time I ended up occasionally walking her into tree branches and, in one case, the rear-view mirror of a parked truck (!). Gah. How embarrassing. I'm also considerably shorter than she is and ended up running her aground for that reason as well. I don't really notice things that are above me. Since I'm 4 feet 11 inches, there are a lot of things above me that aren't above most other folks. I got some good-natured ribbing from Rosie, no doubt about it! Just to give you an idea:

Rosie and Margy Cropped

Um, she's a little taller. Whack! Right into the tree branch. Sorry, sweetie. It was fun, though.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Now Listen Up, Fellows

Thu, 24 Sep 2009 00:59:57 GMT

Many thanks to a fellow Facebook friend for this. Classic. I'd pass it around to at least 15 guys you know.

Tim Hawkins Things you don't say to your wife

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com

On Vox: Stepping Back and Seeing The World

Sun, 20 Sep 2009 21:53:04 GMT

The world, by the way, as it looked in 1901. I recently found an interesting video of the Pan-American Exposition which was held in Buffalo, New York. It was a gigantic event, or so I hear. Some of the buildings (made of marble!) are still standing and currently house the city's historical and science museums.

I find this video interesting in its depiction of electricity. In 1901, electricity was pretty new. We take it so much for granted these days: just go into a room and click on a lamp. Light up a building with the flick of a switch, to take its place among all the other lit-up buildings in the city.

But 109 years ago, that wasn't the case. Our house, built between 1895 and 1900, was originally piped for gas. We have a lot of the original tubing. Electricity didn't enter the house until later. We still have a disconnected power panel from 1913, with old knob-and-tube wiring setups.

Imagine being at this fair when the sun went down and all of the buildings were suddenly lit - by electricity! It would have been an awe-inspiring site. In fact, I think it would even wow us today.

Enjoy the video. I added the soundtrack: the Marine Corps Band planing a Souza march. Perfect! You can just imagine the band playing in a gazebo somewhere as you meander the broad paths and grand buildings of the Exposition.

Electricity at the Pan American Exhibition 1901

By the way - the Exhibition took place in my home town of Buffalo. That's where I'm originally from, although I've lived in Boston since 1979.

Originally posted on margy423.vox.com