Archive for December, 2006
I just bought plane tickets to go to DC this spring and see my sister and her family. I will be there during the Cherry Festival and during the Kite Festival. The cherry blossoms are pretty, and have a new meaning to me since I became a part of this group, but I’m really looking forward to the kites.
My nephew and I are going to try to make a kite to enter into the competition they hold each year. To be eiligible to win one of the categories your entry has to be air worthy, which translates into flying for five uninterupted minutes.
Any ideas on where to find reliable patterns for inexpensive do it yourself kites? I was thinking something like this since we’ve had so much snow in Colorado lately.
Okay- I’m able to get back in here and edit- yeah! Just wanted to let you know where I grabbed the image, this German snow kite site. Can’t read German so I don’t know what they’re saying, but the images are impressive.
December 31st, 2006
Since many of you have no doubt recently made resolutions that involve food and the intake thereof, and since we do have a food category, I thought I’d be nice and post one of my kids’ favorite recipes for you. They’ve each asked me to make this for their birthday cake for the past several years, though it is not technically a cake. They don’t care. It’s really, really good. And you can stick birthday candles in it.
Fudgy Caramel Wedges
From Pillsbury Chocolate Lovers III (c 1988)
BAR:
2 oz. (2 squares) semi-sweet chocolate, chopped
1 oz. (1 square) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
½ cup margarine or butter
¾ cup Pillsbury’s Best All Purpose or Unbleached Flour
(please note this is a Pillsbury recipe, I just use whatever flour I have on hand)
¾ cup sugar
1 tablespoon vanilla
2 eggs
½ cup coarsely chopped pecans (or more)
TOPPING:
10 vanilla caramels, unwrapped (duh!)
2 tablespoons milk
½ oz. (½ square) unsweetened chocolate, chopped
2 teaspoons margarine or butter
1 teaspoon light corn syrup
Heat oven to 325 F. Line 9-inch round cake pan with foil; grease.
(I use a springform pan and I don’t grease it.)
In medium saucepan over low heat, melt 2 oz semi-sw choc, 1 oz unsw choc and ½ cup marg, stirring constantly. Cool slightly.
Add flour, sugar, vanilla and eggs; blend well. (I beat the eggs, sugar and vanilla in a mixing bowl, add the flour, and then add the chocolate mixture.)
Pour into prepared pan.
Sprinkle nuts over batter.
Bake at 325 F. For 20-30 minutes or until set (kind of puffs up in the middle).
In small saucepan over low heat, melt caramels and milk, stirring frequently (constantly) until smooth (this takes approximately forever).
Drizzle, using a squiggly pattern of your choice, over the bars.
In same saucepan (don’t wash it first) over low heat, melt ½ oz unsw choc, 2 tsp marg and corn syrup, stirring constantly.
Drizzle this over the bars, as well.
Cool completely; cut into wedges. Makes 12 to 16 servings (unless you’re serving my children, who want huge pieces, then there are fewer servings).
Good with ice cream, too.
I guess if there were ever any left over, and there never is, I would store it covered on the counter.
There you go, my contribution to your downfall. Why, you’re welcome.
December 31st, 2006
I want to test my ability to insert photos. Which means I wrote a description of said photos. Because I’m sadistic.
Glamour-Geek, Scope Dope and I had lunch last week in Toronto at a lovely place called Dessert Trends Patisserie Bistro. I took tons of photos of the dessert case but left my flash on so they are difficult to make out. I should have had photo lessons from Bryan first. Maybe he could give us all some guidelines for whenever we have a gathering of two or more CBs.
I’ve modified the pictures to make them clickable - Bryan
There were as many different desserts as there are CBs. Chocolate symphony, raspberry tart, Passion cheesecake, Tiramisu, Key lime mousse, Lemon raspberry tarts, Fruit basket pastries, apple galette, pear tarts and so many more I can barely remember them all. It was so difficult to choose but they were as individual as each of us.
So if you were a dessert what would you be? Besides delicious.
December 31st, 2006
This is my test post in my position as an alternative DP poster.
Johnny Carson used put on a funny hat and a strange expression and make predictions for the future. Since I claim him as a very, very distant relative, I’m going to also claim the right to steal this super power and use it for the good of the CB Bar & Grill.
As I see it, the future will turn out to be something like this:
- BCB and McB will make a heroic attempt to drive to Tahiti, only to get hopelessly tangled up in a cloverleaf somewhere outside of Peoria and end up driving to Canda to visit Scope Dope.
- Scope Dope will not be home, having herself gone off to accept an award for her award-winning Nano novel.
- Cherry Magic Sheryl will learn the reason behind her dog’s seemingly disruptive behavior, discovering the animal’s nefarious connections to a sinister cabal of readers who want to keep Sheryl housebound so she’ll get more writing done.
- Diane will run away and join the ballet, adopting the name of TwinkleToes for real.
- Cary will run away to Tahiti, take one look at that strange, non-Oregonian thing known as the Sun, and decide to spend all her time on the beach painting cabana boys. Eventually she’ll switch to painting watercolors.
- Btuda will write a book analyzing Foot-In-Mouth syndrome and become a tremendous success, appearing on Oprah and Dr. Phil and ending up on Judge Judy trying to explain why she didn’t cite all of her CB friends in the footnotes.
- OH will conduct a revolutionary takeover of her college. This being Santa Cruz, she will be awarded extra points for creativity and self-expression, and graduate early.
- Bryan will hang up his tutu and develop a passion for a gypsy violinist, eventually running away to join a traveling band of gypsy photographers.
- Zaza save us all by thwarting her cat’s nefarious plans to take over the world and turn it into a gigantic catnip farm.
- Mary will change her name to Spartacus.
Oh, by the way. I heard from Talpianna:
Thanks for the heads-up, Mary. When I was sick for a couple of weeks, I managed to stay with my delphiforums, but I got so far behind in the blogs I follow that I’ve been reluctant to undertake the task of catch-up. I do still want to stay in touch, and will probably show up eventually.
Love to all the Henchwenches and Mole Rangerettes!
tal
P.S. The Tigress seems less enthused about continuing. She really doesn’t like blogs.
December 31st, 2006
stop singing “it’s the end of the world as we know it”. yes you, over there.
it’s 4 am and i should be in bed, but i’m reading Tabitha King’s One on One and it’s good stuff. (don’t worry, my reviews will be better in the future)
i have 22 bookmarks in Firefox, and CBs/Crusie/Bob can go into 10 of them. but being a bright kid, i just gave you all your own category. i call it “CBs and the rest”. you all are special, very special.
yes you, singing the song, even you are.
and since i am scarily into YouTube, i leave you with a song and url: “Lightning Crashes” by Live
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=apLuVnTSybY&NR (music video is bad but good song)
ok, let’s test this sucker…
December 31st, 2006
What? Zaza said to test post. Or post tests. Or something. So anyway here I am on the “Post” page for the first time. There’s all this … stuff. What stuff? Umm… oh, there’s the “categories” section. Let’s see … (I got a deal on those elipses, I’m not going to waste them) how about “Blog Stuff” and “Uncategorized” (since this is just me rambling) and oh yes, “Useless Fun.” I’m tempted to pick “Sophmoric Brain Development” but its almost 5 a.m. and I’ve been awake since 3 a.m. so I might come to regret that one. And there’s other cool things here too. Like:
This is Kelly. She’s 10 and pretty much rules the house. She also helped decorate and wrap this Christmas. If you have a cat you know what that means.
Remember when Glamour-Geek and Mary went to Hawaii? This is the photo they never showed you.
December 31st, 2006
Categories - They’re there if you want to use them, but they’re not mandatory. It’s like a menu in a restaurant, just order what you want to eat, er, write about. As McB said, they make it easier to find past posts by topic rather than date. Maybe there’s a way to make it a clickable drop down for the sub-categories. Not a burning issue at the mo, though.
Flexibility or Rules - remember, we voted to keep the blog format because the majority of us liked the freeform give and take. I know some of you are having separation anxiety, but, really, did we have any rules on HW/SW? Did anarchy reign? Don’t answer that. ;+)
Deleting comments - that’s another of those relatively low priority things we’ll get to. No, the comments don’t go to Bryan’s mailbox, only if they are flagged as possible spam for too many links. Otherwise, they are posted immediately.
Accessing the Category “links” - they won’t work unless there has actually been a post under that category. Try the Golden Rule one now, Mary. I used it on one of my posts.
Negative reviews - Reviews - Reviews are listed in the categories in case someone wants to write one as their post. If we say “no negative reviews,” we may appear to recommend a book etc. when we know it has problems. We’re not doing the other CBs any favors by doing that. (Kudos, Diane!)
I’ve done book reviews for a couple of online mags/sites, back in the days when you had to provide your own books or scrape the bottom of the review barrel. When I solicited books for review, from a writers group, I promised to give an honest review, but if, IMO, a book was really bad, I just wouldn’t review it. That’s not to say that I only gave A ratings, but the ones that really blew, I just set aside. And I never had an author ask why I hadn’t reviewed their book. /;+)
J&B’s blog - Mollie originally said they’d leave it up for at least a week after the end of 2006 for those of us who needed one last peek and to provide links to the new blogs spinning off from it. I don’t know if that’s changed, but she checked with Jenny after I asked, so I’d say we’re safe for at least that long.
A purpose - When Bob said blogs needed a purpose, he was talking about professional blogs, blogs as marketing tools, which this isn’t. This is a community blog. We’re here for the chat and the camaraderie as Louis and several others have said.
Right now, I’m wondering why I can’t see all the comments on some posts, and why the comment box is gone. Dang it.
December 31st, 2006
As I was saying in my comment on the last post, I think a semi-freeform schedule would suit all of us best. Cheryl would like Wednesdays. Tal and Tigress, if they join us, will most likely prefer to have a day locked in, as well.
So, pretty much posting at will with a few guidelines.
- I’m not quite sure how we’ll work this out, but…no stepping on other poster’s toes, i.e., once a post comes up, no new posts for at least SIX hours.
- If you post something that contradicts another post, in the interest of debate only, or complements/logically follows from another post, start a post of your own, rather than writing a huge comment.
- If things are lagging, by all means feel free to throw out an idea for discussion, post a pic or whatever, just to keep the conversation flowing.
How does that sound? We can put a schedule up for those folks who want dibs on a certain day/date, and anyone else can post when they like. I think having the six hour moratorium after a post is just good manners (we can change that length of time if we want or need to). Anyone who takes the time to post shouldn’t feel they have to compete for attention. Of course, if someone’s writing a post while someone else publishes theirs (after first checking the schedule to be sure no one has that time earmarked), that can’t be helped. But let’s at least try to give each post a little face time all its own. ;+)
If one of our poster girls or boys has a lot to say on the subject of a particular post, ref it in that post’s comments (as I did for this post in my comment on the one before), and move it to a post of its own, after a reasonable amount of comment activity has taken place. Especially if it’s something controversial, give the original post it’s six hour’s grace.
We’ll probably have to redefine these guidelines as we go along and see how things work out, but let’s give them a try for a while. In fact, if anyone who wants to have their posts scheduled will email Bryan (bryanjweitzel @ bjwcreations . com), he’s offered to try to make up a calendar for a couple months in advance. Mention when you want to post and how often. I’ll write up the guidelines with specific format info so that posters will know what’s expected of them and readers can recognize what’s going on.
BTW, is Bryan the one adding all the new categories? What a hoot! I’m even using one of them on this post.
Oh, and one other thing, anyone who would like to be able to post if they get a sudden brain fart or have something exciting to share or need a poor baby or a shovel brigade should email me NOW (zlamarr @ gmail . com) so I can set them up for posting priveleges. There would be no obligation attached, but I’d sure hate to hear that one of the CBs exploded because they didn’t have an outlet for all that hot air. Heh.
Checking back on the comments on the last post, those of you who want a regular schedule, just let us know when and how often you want to post. As for topics, we’ve proved over on HW/SW that we can all pretty much enjoy and comment on any topic.
I’m not going to say “no off-topic comments” because we all have some idea pop up we want to mention or discuss but don’t want to turn it into a post. One of the reasons we chose the blog format is so that we still have that freedom, rather than being locked in to topics as on a forum. So, no one should feel insulted if someone goes off-topic in their comments.
AHA! How about anyone who does a post and wants on topic discussion only, e.g., on craft issues or some issue their trying to resolve, include in the title “ON TOPIC DISCUSSION ONLY”? I’ll add a category for that, too, so someone who wants to find those posts can have a way of doing so without searching the whole blog.
It’s a work in progress, people. Don’t anyone get tense at this stage of the game. We’ve been together, some of us, for nearly a year, and we’ve pretty much gotten along like a herd of puppies, i.e., some rough housing, but mostly playing and having fun. Remember we’ll be having a web site eventually, and that will allow some topics to be focused for anyone who wants that.
Hang in there.
December 30th, 2006
First, one issue resolved: The tiny font in the comment window has been fixed. I don’t know how long I had to search to find that little snippet of code that was making it so small. It would have helped if it had had a name that was even the tiniest bit meaningful. Heh.
Second, third, fourth etc.: How are we going to work this thing? I know Tal and Tigress had talked about sharing a post a month (week???) on something enlightening, but, aside from that,
- do those of you/us who are planning to contribute want to be on a schedule or just post at will?
- do those of you who will be in receive mode want a regular schedule of posts, by author? Some of the time? All of time? Never?
How about topics?
- poster’s choice?
- some regular topics, like craft, reviews, recommendations?
- occasionally by request?
It seems like the best/easiest way to hand things would be to let posters do so at will, unless someone wants to be responsible for a weekly/monthly post of a particular topic. Unless we find ourselves with 6 posts a day or 6 posts a month, that should work. Right?
What does everyone think? BTW, is anyone in touch with our two T-ladies to know if they still plan to post here?
December 30th, 2006
Hi all,
I hope everyone’s holidays have been all they hoped for.
I want to take a moment to update you on two known issues. First, we’ve had a couple instances where comments have been filtered as SPAM, and then when ZaZa has attempted to moderate them and mark them as “Not SPAM” the code hiccups and goes all to heck and we lose the comment. I’m going through the lines of code now, but HTML is not my natural language, COBOL is. So if you have a comment that goes to Never-Never Land, let me know each and every time until I can track this down.
Second, another comment issue is that people are having trouble reading/posting comments when they click on the “## Comments” link. They’re only seeing the first comment, with no opportunity to post a new one. This is a relatively new problem, as it wasn’t doing this before. Again, it’s a code problem, but since there is a work-around, I’m putting this as my second priority. For the time being, in order to comment or read the comments, click on the post title. For this post, that means click on “Current Issues…” above.
Thanks so much for your patience. As always, contact me at bryanjweitzel@bjwcreations.com with your problems. And yes, any problems are fair game. I used to be a bartender after all. But be certain you know what you’re in for before putting your sixteen year-old DS on a plane. He’s liable to come back to you even more of a handful than before (though perhaps a bit more charming). There’s a reason I don’t have kids. My skill set could be dangerous in the hands of a sixteen year-old.
December 26th, 2006
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