The traveling Mojito Muddler and the aforementioned limes:
I hope that's enough!
Monday, July 13, 2009
Where There Are Limes
There soon will be Mojitos!
The traveling Mojito Muddler and the aforementioned limes:
I hope that's enough!
The traveling Mojito Muddler and the aforementioned limes:
I hope that's enough!
Sunday, July 12, 2009
Suzanne's Soundtrack Sunday
Thank God for iPod
Ed noticed it first. "Your car radio is broken."
My response was "No it's not. I get my stations just fine."
It wasn't until I wanted to find the local NPR affiliate that I realized that he was right. The combination of the funky Beetle antenna and the unforgiving Florida sun have conspired against us listening to more than the three stations I prefer.
The offending article.
I think I've mentioned before that my car is what VW called the Satellite Blue special edition. It came with a year's subscription to XM and something very unusual for the time, an iPod jack in the dash. No dopey adapter setups for me-my car has a plug!
The rarely seen factory installed 2004 in-dash iPod plug
A plug that for a long time did not work. It took a year for me to discover this, as Ed bought me an iPod for Christmas 2005. VW probably has since corrected the issue, but it was my complaint for four or five visits to the dealer that the thing STILL wasn't working. As it is, the plug is poorly placed right above the poorly placed cup holders, so if I have a coffee (small, nothing else will fit) in place, the cup will jostle the plug.
(It helps to have a handy husband. Plans are in place to relocate that plug from the bottom of the dash to the front in a currently unused rocker switch, as seen above.)
That plug, once the bane of my existence as an iPod owner, now makes life much better. Especially when I don't feel like listening to the three country stations play Kenny Chesney over and over (this HAS happened, btw). It's still not perfect, as the right channel will sometimes cut out. This is thanks to those cups of coffee jostling that plug a couple dozen times.
You notice that I haven't even mentioned the fact that my car stereo has a CD player in it? How 90's that thing is-lug around a bunch of CDs? (FTR, there are a half dozen CDs in the car. There were more, but I lost a dozen of them and the visor holder at a wedding reception with a crappy DJ and I haven't felt the need to place more CDs in the car.
Besides, once you've got an iPod jack, you tend to think that 10 songs in a row by the same artist is too much commitment. The mix tapes of your youth are now all kept in one place and even better? There is no more rifling frantically through the case for the favorite one, only to find it's in the other car.
Even better, if you want to hit shuffle, there are 2,500, 7,500 or 20,000 songs available for your listening pleasure. (Poor Chef, he has outgrown his little shuffle and ends up borrowing mine.)
Venturing off on a road trip these days doesn't mean gathering all forms of recorded musical media. It just means sitting here and plugging various units into the laptop and ensuring you've got headphones available for those who prefer to listen to their own thing.
We'll see how it all plays out shortly...
Ed noticed it first. "Your car radio is broken."
My response was "No it's not. I get my stations just fine."
It wasn't until I wanted to find the local NPR affiliate that I realized that he was right. The combination of the funky Beetle antenna and the unforgiving Florida sun have conspired against us listening to more than the three stations I prefer.
The offending article.I think I've mentioned before that my car is what VW called the Satellite Blue special edition. It came with a year's subscription to XM and something very unusual for the time, an iPod jack in the dash. No dopey adapter setups for me-my car has a plug!
The rarely seen factory installed 2004 in-dash iPod plugA plug that for a long time did not work. It took a year for me to discover this, as Ed bought me an iPod for Christmas 2005. VW probably has since corrected the issue, but it was my complaint for four or five visits to the dealer that the thing STILL wasn't working. As it is, the plug is poorly placed right above the poorly placed cup holders, so if I have a coffee (small, nothing else will fit) in place, the cup will jostle the plug.
(It helps to have a handy husband. Plans are in place to relocate that plug from the bottom of the dash to the front in a currently unused rocker switch, as seen above.)
That plug, once the bane of my existence as an iPod owner, now makes life much better. Especially when I don't feel like listening to the three country stations play Kenny Chesney over and over (this HAS happened, btw). It's still not perfect, as the right channel will sometimes cut out. This is thanks to those cups of coffee jostling that plug a couple dozen times.
You notice that I haven't even mentioned the fact that my car stereo has a CD player in it? How 90's that thing is-lug around a bunch of CDs? (FTR, there are a half dozen CDs in the car. There were more, but I lost a dozen of them and the visor holder at a wedding reception with a crappy DJ and I haven't felt the need to place more CDs in the car.
Besides, once you've got an iPod jack, you tend to think that 10 songs in a row by the same artist is too much commitment. The mix tapes of your youth are now all kept in one place and even better? There is no more rifling frantically through the case for the favorite one, only to find it's in the other car.
Even better, if you want to hit shuffle, there are 2,500, 7,500 or 20,000 songs available for your listening pleasure. (Poor Chef, he has outgrown his little shuffle and ends up borrowing mine.)
Venturing off on a road trip these days doesn't mean gathering all forms of recorded musical media. It just means sitting here and plugging various units into the laptop and ensuring you've got headphones available for those who prefer to listen to their own thing.
We'll see how it all plays out shortly...
Saturday, July 11, 2009
So You Think You Know Me?
There's a quiz going around on Facebook for the past month or so. In it, you create a questionnaire about yourself.
Mine is very tough. No one has scored 100% on it, so perhaps it's a little TOO tough on my friends. But for fun, I'll put some of the questions up here and it will probably give you a little bit more of a glimpse into who I am.
Where did Ed and I meet?
a) Bar hopping on LI
b) the Mall
c) At Nassau
d) At a Hess gas station
e) At Jones Beach
Which band have I seen in concert six times?
a) Rush
b) Squeeze
c) Depeche Mode
d) U2
e) Marillion
Which is not one of my hobbies?
a) Blogging
b) Gardening
c) Photography
d) Cooking
e) Reading
Of these activities, name the one I didn't do in high school:
a) Swim team
b) Choir
c) Drama
d) Newspaper
e) Yearbook
Which topping will not be on my pizza?
a) Pepperoni
b) Olives
c) Onions
d) Peppers
e) Pesto
8) What is my all time favorite comfort food?
a) Roast Beef with Mashed Potatoes
b) Chicken Cutlets
c) Au Gratin Potatoes with Ham Chunks
d) Veal Scallopine
e) Meatloaf
If I won the lottery tomorrow, what would I do?
a) Travel the world
b) Become a permanent college student
c) Buy a huge mansion and a yacht
d) Move to Hawaii
e) None of the above
I pulled out the tougher ones and the ones that list employers and places I've lived.
Want to take a stab at it? Winners get bragging rights, lol.
Mine is very tough. No one has scored 100% on it, so perhaps it's a little TOO tough on my friends. But for fun, I'll put some of the questions up here and it will probably give you a little bit more of a glimpse into who I am.
Where did Ed and I meet?
a) Bar hopping on LI
b) the Mall
c) At Nassau
d) At a Hess gas station
e) At Jones Beach
Which band have I seen in concert six times?
a) Rush
b) Squeeze
c) Depeche Mode
d) U2
e) Marillion
Which is not one of my hobbies?
a) Blogging
b) Gardening
c) Photography
d) Cooking
e) Reading
Of these activities, name the one I didn't do in high school:
a) Swim team
b) Choir
c) Drama
d) Newspaper
e) Yearbook
Which topping will not be on my pizza?
a) Pepperoni
b) Olives
c) Onions
d) Peppers
e) Pesto
8) What is my all time favorite comfort food?
a) Roast Beef with Mashed Potatoes
b) Chicken Cutlets
c) Au Gratin Potatoes with Ham Chunks
d) Veal Scallopine
e) Meatloaf
If I won the lottery tomorrow, what would I do?
a) Travel the world
b) Become a permanent college student
c) Buy a huge mansion and a yacht
d) Move to Hawaii
e) None of the above
I pulled out the tougher ones and the ones that list employers and places I've lived.
Want to take a stab at it? Winners get bragging rights, lol.
Friday, July 10, 2009
Summer Vacations
When I was a kid, the first day of school would start with telling about what you did on your summer vacation. It's funny, I can remember one classmate's trip to Walt Disney World in 2nd grade, with a detour to Georgia. A few years later, someone came back with a Hawaii '75 shirt.
At the time, my summers were full of fun, riding bikes with friends, playing in the big woods off the Campgrounds and just generally having a good time. A trip somewhere would have been the icing on the cake of summer.
The summer I was headed into fifth grade, Dad announced he was taking us younger four on vacation for a couple of days. The day was packed with fun, but the trip was supposed to be four days in upstate NY. Thanks to Ramada for screwing up the reservations, we arrived back home about 24 hours after departure.
The following year, my dad opted for a different hotel chain and a different destination with three kids this time. Inspired by watching the movie "Rollercoaster", we ventured to Kings Dominion, Williamsburg, Va and ended with two days in Pennsylvania.
Giggles and I divided Dad's photo albums when he passed, and recently, she put up this gem of my youth:
This was taken on the last day of our 1977 trip, at Hersheypark, with me wearing the shirt purchased the first day of the trip, a Strasburg Railroad hat, some Andersen pretzel pins on it and a cotton candy that is bigger than my head.
You can't get a better vacation than that.
At the time, my summers were full of fun, riding bikes with friends, playing in the big woods off the Campgrounds and just generally having a good time. A trip somewhere would have been the icing on the cake of summer.
The summer I was headed into fifth grade, Dad announced he was taking us younger four on vacation for a couple of days. The day was packed with fun, but the trip was supposed to be four days in upstate NY. Thanks to Ramada for screwing up the reservations, we arrived back home about 24 hours after departure.
The following year, my dad opted for a different hotel chain and a different destination with three kids this time. Inspired by watching the movie "Rollercoaster", we ventured to Kings Dominion, Williamsburg, Va and ended with two days in Pennsylvania.
Giggles and I divided Dad's photo albums when he passed, and recently, she put up this gem of my youth:
This was taken on the last day of our 1977 trip, at Hersheypark, with me wearing the shirt purchased the first day of the trip, a Strasburg Railroad hat, some Andersen pretzel pins on it and a cotton candy that is bigger than my head.
You can't get a better vacation than that.
Thursday, July 09, 2009
Let's Play the Lawyer Eyes game
The title is inspired by Chef Jr (soon to be a Double Digit Dude), who wanted to play the Lawyer Eyes game tonight. You'll understand why soon.
When we first moved to Florida, it astounded us how many billboards have pictures of the professional who is advertising for business. As long as I've had the blog, I have been thinking I needed to take pictures of some of these billboards, because they probably do the opposite of what the professional intended.
For instance, there is a lawyer who we call the "Possessed by the devil axe murdering lawyer" because he is not smiling a warm, welcoming smile in supersize on these signs. Rather, his expression says "I am going to cut you up into little pieces when I'm done taking the picture."
Sorry, if you can't smile with your eyes as well as your mouth, stick with the stoic look. (Maybe he looks harmless in small, pixelated form. Imagine this in 5 foot by 5 foot, staring DOWN at you while you wait for that traffic light to turn green. It's creepy)
For the past five years, any time we go past this guy's signs, we end up laughing at the scary lawyer eyes. There are other lawyers in the area who have billboards with less than flattering pictures, but this guy's picture doesn't inspire the thought that we just have to call him before anyone else for our legal needs.
The problem isn't exclusive to lawyers around here. When you're driving down the interstate at 70 or so miles an hour, this doctor's picture makes him look like Attila from the local prison.
Granted, when it's here in small form, the guy looks decent, but when his picture is blown up supersize, he looks intimidating. Not the kind of guy you want holding a scalpel to parts of your body, KWIM?
There are more examples that I should get pictures of the billboards to further support the argument that it might be better to stick with text and graphics in the large, impersonal advertising media.
Which brings me to playing the Lawyer Eyes game. Chef is a champion at staring you down. However, lately, he's taken great pleasure in duplicating the possessed or scary looks that stare down form the local billboards. While we were waiting for Ed tonight, he trotted out these expressions and said "Let's Play the Lawyer Eyes game."
He beat the pants off of me, because I was laughing so hard at how close to the expressions he was.
Should I be worried?
When we first moved to Florida, it astounded us how many billboards have pictures of the professional who is advertising for business. As long as I've had the blog, I have been thinking I needed to take pictures of some of these billboards, because they probably do the opposite of what the professional intended.
For instance, there is a lawyer who we call the "Possessed by the devil axe murdering lawyer" because he is not smiling a warm, welcoming smile in supersize on these signs. Rather, his expression says "I am going to cut you up into little pieces when I'm done taking the picture."
Sorry, if you can't smile with your eyes as well as your mouth, stick with the stoic look. (Maybe he looks harmless in small, pixelated form. Imagine this in 5 foot by 5 foot, staring DOWN at you while you wait for that traffic light to turn green. It's creepy)
For the past five years, any time we go past this guy's signs, we end up laughing at the scary lawyer eyes. There are other lawyers in the area who have billboards with less than flattering pictures, but this guy's picture doesn't inspire the thought that we just have to call him before anyone else for our legal needs.
The problem isn't exclusive to lawyers around here. When you're driving down the interstate at 70 or so miles an hour, this doctor's picture makes him look like Attila from the local prison.
Granted, when it's here in small form, the guy looks decent, but when his picture is blown up supersize, he looks intimidating. Not the kind of guy you want holding a scalpel to parts of your body, KWIM?
There are more examples that I should get pictures of the billboards to further support the argument that it might be better to stick with text and graphics in the large, impersonal advertising media.
Which brings me to playing the Lawyer Eyes game. Chef is a champion at staring you down. However, lately, he's taken great pleasure in duplicating the possessed or scary looks that stare down form the local billboards. While we were waiting for Ed tonight, he trotted out these expressions and said "Let's Play the Lawyer Eyes game."
He beat the pants off of me, because I was laughing so hard at how close to the expressions he was.
Should I be worried?
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