My Updated Bucket list

So this post will serve as a virtual sticky note (I love post-it, best product ever). What follows is the to-do list of my life... Things I would like to accomplish before I die... It is a work in progress as I occasionally remember another thing I would like to do, I will add them, and when I accomplish one, I will cross it off the list... Let me know a few things that are on your list in the comments. giddy-up (in no particular order)

• Master the art of bread baking
• Hike the Appalachian Trail in its entirety
• Learn the Banjo, and play it in public
• Graduate from Culinary arts school
• Learn sign language
• Become fluent in Spanish
• Become fluent in Italian
• Attend a world series ----October 2007, Coors Field, Denver Colorado
• Attend a super bowl
• Get a doctorate in beer brewing
• Leave my mark
• Meet my great grandchildren
• Be published
• Contribute to the betterment of society (kind of a blanket statement, I know, but it is my list not yours)
• Play St. Andrews Golf Course
• Become a master BJCP Judge
• Play the piano well enough that if there is a piano at a party, I can sit at it and jam out, like in "groundhog day" or like Merton
• Learn to ride a unicycle
• Attend the Olympics
• Keep Bees
• Dine on a dinner of sausage I made, beer I brewed, bread I baked and cheese I formaged

Amazing videos of people with too much...

time on their hands.

these chain reaction videos are something else!
here
and
here
and lets not forget the now famous Honda Accord video

silence is golden

What Do 300 Calorie Meals Look Like?

Here is a selection of meals that are in the 300-400 calorie range. The visual representation gives an idea of portion size.

Breakfast - 290 calories
1 whole wheat English muffin
2 pats low fat butter
1 hard boiled egg
1/2 cup of fruit
8 oz fruit juice
8 oz water

Cereal - 300 calories
2 cups of cereal
8 oz 2% milk
1 banana
1 coffee or tea

More HERE...

Record Outbound Customer Service Calls With 321-CALL-LOG

I love this, of course you need to allert the other party that you are taping call, otherwise you might end up in the slammer with a guy named "bubbles" as your cell mate. not really on that last part, but still...

from the consumerist

321-CALL-LOG is a free online service that helps you make recordings of and document your customer service phone calls.
After signing up, simply call 321-CALL-LOG, login, and dial the company you're trying to reach. The site patches you through and makes an audio recoding of your phone call that you can later retrieve.
The site also lets create "cases" so you can document your customer service issues.

the reading rainbow...

Using Google as a Proxy

Normally when you view a web page, your computer's browsing software makes a connection to the destination server, downloads the page's data, and displays it for you.

This would normally be the preferred way of doing things, but occasionally you'll find yourself on a work or school connection that disallows you from connecting to certain web sites. In these scenarios, what you need is a proxy. A proxy is a server or service that will connect to the blacklisted server on your behalf and send you back the results.

Now, you still need to directly access the proxy server, so it's important that it's not on the blacklist itself. It's very interesting that Google, a host unlikely to end up on most blacklists, has a couple of tools that can essentially act as a web proxy!

the rest...

Veni, vidi, vinegar

254 uses for vinegar, who knew?

included in the list:


Used as a hair rinse, vinegar neutralizes the alkali left by shampoos.

Fabric softener and static cling reducer - use as you would liquid fabric softener

once a month, run a pot of vinegar through your coffee maker, cleans it right out (do this outside, if possible)

the whole shebang

Waiting for my music video to come

This is the first music video that a friend and i did for a class project. it is primitive, but was fun to do. permalink

How many megapixels is your eye?

576 as it turns out, but that is the punchline, read the setup here

30 tricks of 30 trades

interesting article from themorningnews.org about 30 tricks from 30 different trades

among some of the gems you'll learn are:

Auto Mechanic
Always put copper grease on the battery terminals after servicing a car. The performance benefit is negligible, but when customers look under the hood they will immediately see that something’s changed and thus feel happy to pay you.

Jeweler
When setting a semiprecious gem, set a tiny piece of silver or gold foil behind it to make it sparkle.

Piano Salesman
If you see a potential customer eyeing a piano, estimate their age and calculate what year it was when they were 18 years old. Play a big hit from that year on the piano they’re looking at. With a lot of preparation and a little luck, you might play the exact song they were listening to when they lost their virginity, got married, or drove their first car. The emotional resonance will overcome sales resistance and even open their wallets to a more expensive piano.

Street Performer
In street performance, it’s possible to make money without really knowing how to play your instrument. You can pick up a cheap accordion at a thrift store and simply make stuff up on the street corner. Most people usually won’t stick around and listen for long if you are on a sidewalk where there’s little room to stand, and you can play the same thing over and over and still make money.

all the rest, just ahead