oh sk-5, how i love to make you make teh sounds.
poo
time to go get stuck in a hot train somewherez.
ed
ps- i freely admit that i am responsible for the norhythm drumming, and i love the sound of aliasing.
Tuesday, March 21, 2006
recent beers of note
brooklyn lager
this is still my favorite of the brooklyn brews. at least of the ones you can regularly get. though the quality seems to vary (or is it my palate?) i enjoy drinking this on draft when i go out. when it is really good, i find there is a roasted, almost buttery taste that i like a lot. nice to see a brewery that makes a really good lager style beer, since most craft breweries seem to concentrate on ales.
dale's pale ale
"a huge voluminously hopped mutha of a pale ale" the can proclaims, in red, blue, white, and silver. yes i did say can. this colorado brew is the only beer our coop carries in a can. the taste is as described, very hoppy, but big and not too overly floral or sharp.
geary's hampshire special ale
despite the "hampshire" in the name, the beer is actually brewed in portland. portland maine that is. the 7% alcohol content is what really makes this one "special," though the overall roundness of the beer is quite pleasant. not too terribly hoppy, so a nice contrast to the dale's.
dogfish head 90 minute imperial IPA
i've found the dogfish head beers hit or miss... but this one was great. a very drinkable and very strong IPA, i finished off one of these pretty quick after a long day at work and was totally wrecked. 9% alcohol + exhaustion can (and likely will again) do that to ya.
high point ramstein winter wheat
dark doppelbock style wheat beer with a 9.5% ABV. lamar really liked this one. it tastes almost like a stout, not bitter, but coffee and caramel with a slightly fruity weizen taste, which hides the alcohol well.
props also to the range of organic beers brewed by wolavers.
brooklyn lager
this is still my favorite of the brooklyn brews. at least of the ones you can regularly get. though the quality seems to vary (or is it my palate?) i enjoy drinking this on draft when i go out. when it is really good, i find there is a roasted, almost buttery taste that i like a lot. nice to see a brewery that makes a really good lager style beer, since most craft breweries seem to concentrate on ales.
dale's pale ale
"a huge voluminously hopped mutha of a pale ale" the can proclaims, in red, blue, white, and silver. yes i did say can. this colorado brew is the only beer our coop carries in a can. the taste is as described, very hoppy, but big and not too overly floral or sharp.
geary's hampshire special ale
despite the "hampshire" in the name, the beer is actually brewed in portland. portland maine that is. the 7% alcohol content is what really makes this one "special," though the overall roundness of the beer is quite pleasant. not too terribly hoppy, so a nice contrast to the dale's.
dogfish head 90 minute imperial IPA
i've found the dogfish head beers hit or miss... but this one was great. a very drinkable and very strong IPA, i finished off one of these pretty quick after a long day at work and was totally wrecked. 9% alcohol + exhaustion can (and likely will again) do that to ya.
high point ramstein winter wheat
dark doppelbock style wheat beer with a 9.5% ABV. lamar really liked this one. it tastes almost like a stout, not bitter, but coffee and caramel with a slightly fruity weizen taste, which hides the alcohol well.
props also to the range of organic beers brewed by wolavers.
Monday, January 30, 2006
iboo-boo
about a year and a half ago, lamar's ibook (a 12" G3 800Mhz model) started popping up with the dreaded "spinning beachball of death" and refusing to boot. it also made cranky noises, and got hot, which led me to think that it was the fan which is supposed to cool the machine down when the going gets tough. we experienced the joy that is soho apple store genius bar line waiting appointment, and $300 and a week later, lamar had her ibook back, with a new HARD DISK. remember what i said about the fan being broken? granted, the disk was fried (or, baked, i guess; broiled perhaps?), but the sizeable fee was supposed to fix the problem, not the symptom. anyway, cut to just before this past christmas. the cranky noise continues, and the machine starts having boot problems again. i resolve to fix the problem myself this time. $100 and two sessions of invasive surgery later, the ibook in question now has a new, larger hard disk, and a fan that actually seems to work (thanks pb-fixit!). i guess the moral of the story is, if you're going to spend all that extra money on a mac, go ahead and get apple care also, or they are totally going to ream you and not even fix the problem.
about a year and a half ago, lamar's ibook (a 12" G3 800Mhz model) started popping up with the dreaded "spinning beachball of death" and refusing to boot. it also made cranky noises, and got hot, which led me to think that it was the fan which is supposed to cool the machine down when the going gets tough. we experienced the joy that is soho apple store genius bar line waiting appointment, and $300 and a week later, lamar had her ibook back, with a new HARD DISK. remember what i said about the fan being broken? granted, the disk was fried (or, baked, i guess; broiled perhaps?), but the sizeable fee was supposed to fix the problem, not the symptom. anyway, cut to just before this past christmas. the cranky noise continues, and the machine starts having boot problems again. i resolve to fix the problem myself this time. $100 and two sessions of invasive surgery later, the ibook in question now has a new, larger hard disk, and a fan that actually seems to work (thanks pb-fixit!). i guess the moral of the story is, if you're going to spend all that extra money on a mac, go ahead and get apple care also, or they are totally going to ream you and not even fix the problem.
Friday, September 30, 2005
adventures in HDTV
lamar recently started interning for the tv critic at village voice. not being much of a tv person, she decided that she should probably start watching a bit, just to be more familiar with the subject. i found a semi-broken tv on the sidewalk a few months ago, and was able to fix it, so hey, free tv. but neither of us really wanted to pay time $50/month or whatever for cable, so i went antenna shopping. along the way, i discovered that HDTV set top boxes that pickup HDTV using an antenna have fallen below $100. specifically (and suprisingly), the accurian hts-6000 available from radio shack (of all places), which a few months ago was about $250, is available for $90 at a store two blocks from our apartment. setup was easy; plug the power into the box, connect it (via s-video in this case) to the tv, hook up an antenna, and turn it on. the box scans for available channels and that's it. there's an on screen signal strength display that can help you orient the antenna to improve reception. it worked okay with a $15 from radio shack that doubled as a photo frame. unfortunately, the photo had to be facing the wall for best reception. not to worry, as a very space age looking terk HD-TVa antenna did a better job and only cost $10 more on eBay. seriously, between the "futuristic" looking antenna and the whole "back to wireless tv" idea, i feel like i'm living at the forefront of retro-modernity. or something. anyway, the picture is great, there's an on screen tv guide, and we don't have to pay every month. downsides are that when reception isn't good, there isn't a graceful failure mode; instead of static, the picture and sound just stop. also, you are limited to whatever stations you can pick up, which in our case is all the majors, some pbs, the wb, upn, etc. obviously, no comedy central, and thus no daily show. though i was suprised to note that the local wb affiliate is showing syndicated episodes of south park late at night. sadly, i think the stations cut their broadcasting strength at midnight or so, as most of the channels blink out around then. despite the drawbacks, for our level of tv watching, which is pretty low as neither of us is usually home during prime time, it seems a good solution.
lamar recently started interning for the tv critic at village voice. not being much of a tv person, she decided that she should probably start watching a bit, just to be more familiar with the subject. i found a semi-broken tv on the sidewalk a few months ago, and was able to fix it, so hey, free tv. but neither of us really wanted to pay time $50/month or whatever for cable, so i went antenna shopping. along the way, i discovered that HDTV set top boxes that pickup HDTV using an antenna have fallen below $100. specifically (and suprisingly), the accurian hts-6000 available from radio shack (of all places), which a few months ago was about $250, is available for $90 at a store two blocks from our apartment. setup was easy; plug the power into the box, connect it (via s-video in this case) to the tv, hook up an antenna, and turn it on. the box scans for available channels and that's it. there's an on screen signal strength display that can help you orient the antenna to improve reception. it worked okay with a $15 from radio shack that doubled as a photo frame. unfortunately, the photo had to be facing the wall for best reception. not to worry, as a very space age looking terk HD-TVa antenna did a better job and only cost $10 more on eBay. seriously, between the "futuristic" looking antenna and the whole "back to wireless tv" idea, i feel like i'm living at the forefront of retro-modernity. or something. anyway, the picture is great, there's an on screen tv guide, and we don't have to pay every month. downsides are that when reception isn't good, there isn't a graceful failure mode; instead of static, the picture and sound just stop. also, you are limited to whatever stations you can pick up, which in our case is all the majors, some pbs, the wb, upn, etc. obviously, no comedy central, and thus no daily show. though i was suprised to note that the local wb affiliate is showing syndicated episodes of south park late at night. sadly, i think the stations cut their broadcasting strength at midnight or so, as most of the channels blink out around then. despite the drawbacks, for our level of tv watching, which is pretty low as neither of us is usually home during prime time, it seems a good solution.
Monday, September 12, 2005
hokay. so, among the other things to happen recently, i purchased myself a laptop. for a great many years, i was a stalwart anti-laptop holdout, believing that true computing happiness could only come from a desktop system that i had personally hand assembled of high-performance components perfectly matched and sourced at the most reasonably lowest cost from all corners of the globe. today, i have a dell inspiron 700m, made in china.
one thing that has not changed is my desire to run as clean and functional a system as possible. while i did, for the first time EVER, pay for a copy of windows xp home (as part of the purchase price of the laptop), i decided not to compromise on whatever else i could change for free. and so, here is a list of programs that i think are useful, and happen to be FREE:
Grisoft Antivirus Guard Free Edition
- AVG updates itself regularly and is compatible with the MS security center app (which will annoy you if you try to use some non-compatible anti-virus program). intel recently invested a few mil in grisoft, so they have the corporate stamp of approval as well.
Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal
Spybot - Search & Destroy
- Ad-Aware and Spybot are an easy to use and effective tag team against spyware; each one will detect and eliminate nasties that the other might miss.
litepc XPlite
- when i ran windows98, the free version of 98lite was indispensable, as it freed up memory and plugged otherwise unfixable security holes. the free xplite is much more limited, but will let you strip out some unneeded winxp junk. the full verison costs a reasonable $40.
RealAlternative
QuickTimeAlternative
- i really dislike the bloated, overcomplicated, ugly looking, spyware-like media players that Real and Apple foist on users. fortunately, with these two utilities installed, the simple media player classic app can play Real and QT files and most streams.
WinAmp Free
- sadly, music player / library apps don't get much better than a program that is largely unchanged since the late 90s. iTunes is okay, but it is sooo slow, i dislike the AAC DRM scheme, and there are a number of minor ripping/burning and playlist problems that kill it for me. winamp, on the other hand, is simple, relatively decent performing, and the free version isn't too crippled for everyday use. if i ever cave and get an ipod, i'm sure i'll have to take another look at iTunes.
TinyCAD
- a free, open source schematic capture program. exports PADS-PCB format netlists.
FreePCB
- a free pcb design program with no restrictions. imports PADS-PCB format netlists.
one thing that has not changed is my desire to run as clean and functional a system as possible. while i did, for the first time EVER, pay for a copy of windows xp home (as part of the purchase price of the laptop), i decided not to compromise on whatever else i could change for free. and so, here is a list of programs that i think are useful, and happen to be FREE:
Grisoft Antivirus Guard Free Edition
- AVG updates itself regularly and is compatible with the MS security center app (which will annoy you if you try to use some non-compatible anti-virus program). intel recently invested a few mil in grisoft, so they have the corporate stamp of approval as well.
Lavasoft Ad-Aware SE Personal
Spybot - Search & Destroy
- Ad-Aware and Spybot are an easy to use and effective tag team against spyware; each one will detect and eliminate nasties that the other might miss.
litepc XPlite
- when i ran windows98, the free version of 98lite was indispensable, as it freed up memory and plugged otherwise unfixable security holes. the free xplite is much more limited, but will let you strip out some unneeded winxp junk. the full verison costs a reasonable $40.
RealAlternative
QuickTimeAlternative
- i really dislike the bloated, overcomplicated, ugly looking, spyware-like media players that Real and Apple foist on users. fortunately, with these two utilities installed, the simple media player classic app can play Real and QT files and most streams.
WinAmp Free
- sadly, music player / library apps don't get much better than a program that is largely unchanged since the late 90s. iTunes is okay, but it is sooo slow, i dislike the AAC DRM scheme, and there are a number of minor ripping/burning and playlist problems that kill it for me. winamp, on the other hand, is simple, relatively decent performing, and the free version isn't too crippled for everyday use. if i ever cave and get an ipod, i'm sure i'll have to take another look at iTunes.
TinyCAD
- a free, open source schematic capture program. exports PADS-PCB format netlists.
FreePCB
- a free pcb design program with no restrictions. imports PADS-PCB format netlists.
Sunday, July 10, 2005
a birthday was had. cupcakes were made. banana chocolate chip with peanut butter icing (which turned out melty because we used non-hydrogenated peanut butter). a few also got chocolate icing with a dab of pb on top. finally, a few gratuitous vanilla cupcakes with pink-dyed vanilla frosting and sprinkles.
Sunday, June 12, 2005
last weekend, me an lamar split a pita from "mr. falafel" here in park slope. the falafel itself was freshly fried, and suprisingly gooey on the inside, but quite good.
today i went to the big apple bbq block party and had brisket and sausage from the "salt lick" of austin, tx. even tho i will forever hold pork bbq most dear in my (cholesterol lovin') heart, i must admit that the beef bbq was quite good. too bad this hog fest is only one weekend a year. maybe if it happened more often, i wouldn't have had to wait nearly an hour in line to get a plate.
and while i was in madison sq. park, i had a chocolate custard shake from the "shake shack." it was only mildly chocolate, but good nonetheless. after seeing the burgers there, i am going to have to figure out a way to get one... easier said than done, considering the twenty minute wait i endured just for a shake.
today i went to the big apple bbq block party and had brisket and sausage from the "salt lick" of austin, tx. even tho i will forever hold pork bbq most dear in my (cholesterol lovin') heart, i must admit that the beef bbq was quite good. too bad this hog fest is only one weekend a year. maybe if it happened more often, i wouldn't have had to wait nearly an hour in line to get a plate.
and while i was in madison sq. park, i had a chocolate custard shake from the "shake shack." it was only mildly chocolate, but good nonetheless. after seeing the burgers there, i am going to have to figure out a way to get one... easier said than done, considering the twenty minute wait i endured just for a shake.