I decided to add myself to the "Am I Hot or Not?" site, as seen here.
I have no idea what possessed me. Go inflate my score anyway :D
Wednesday, September 4, 2002
Monks (?) taking a break amongst the ruins
(Click photo to see larger version)I took this photo while on a weekend vacation in Rome, during the summer of my internship in Germany in 1997.
It actually took me forever to find the Coliseum, or any exciting Roman tourist stuff in general, since stubborn/stupid me depended on a free and lousy McDonald's Map (no joke!) from the tourist office which somehow had me walking for 5 hours in the sleepy suburbs of Rome where no one spoke English... in the OPPOSITE direction of where I was trying to get to. I suppose it beat being fed to the lions, though!
Tuesday, September 3, 2002
Update on blog'n'site changes
This past last weekend, I spent over 20 hours learning CSS and XHTML and stuff like that, and have finally made a prototype new template for my Web site. Woo hoo!
I will also likely switch this blog over to that format, too, with the blog content in the middle (duh!), the blog 'controls' on the right, and the main SmileZone menu on the left. In case you were dying to know :D
There'll be several major benefits:
- Readers to my blog can "meet" the rest of my site and visa versa
- My blog will be readable by those with disabilities (yes, the tiny font will finally be user-configurable!)
- I'll slowly integrate quotes and aspects from my blog content and blog comments into the rest of my site.
I welcome any comments on my early prototype, and thank you for reading :-)
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I was up 'til 7:30 am last "night" working on that darn template, and I'm now typing to you on 4 hours of sleep. At 12:24am now, why the heck am I here and not in bed?
Good question.
I will also likely switch this blog over to that format, too, with the blog content in the middle (duh!), the blog 'controls' on the right, and the main SmileZone menu on the left. In case you were dying to know :D
There'll be several major benefits:
- Readers to my blog can "meet" the rest of my site and visa versa
- My blog will be readable by those with disabilities (yes, the tiny font will finally be user-configurable!)
- I'll slowly integrate quotes and aspects from my blog content and blog comments into the rest of my site.
I welcome any comments on my early prototype, and thank you for reading :-)
UPDATE: I forgot to mention that I was up 'til 7:30 am last "night" working on that darn template, and I'm now typing to you on 4 hours of sleep. At 12:24am now, why the heck am I here and not in bed?
Good question.
Monday, September 2, 2002
Healthy onion sorta-rings!
I've learned that with a little perseverence and luck, it's possible to make VERY tasty and healthy stuff to substitute for evil FFC (Fast Food Cravings).
Tonight's strange but wonderful dinner:
- Salad with fresh greens, almonds, and raisins and lowfat ranch dressing
- Baked crispy sweet potato chips and onion petals
The salad is pretty self-explanatory.
For the baked crispy stuff, I took two small sweet onions and TRIED to cut them into petals like you see at the fancy restaurants, but that didn't quite work out. So I contented myself to just have lots of cut up "loose petals."
I sliced one sweet potato into as thin of slices as I could, and failing that at times, made some cubes out of the remainder.
I put all of the onion and potato pieces directly onto cookie sheet, which I had lightly sprayed (with a Misto sprayer) with garlic olive oil first. I then sprayed additional oil on top of the veggies, and on top of that, sprinkled some paprika and cornflake crumbs.
I baked this for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, and voila! Lightly crisp, nicely seasoned, and very yummy. The onions are of a similar taste, though not consistency, to fast food onion rings... albeit a zillion times less greasy and more healthy.
Tonight's strange but wonderful dinner:
- Salad with fresh greens, almonds, and raisins and lowfat ranch dressing
- Baked crispy sweet potato chips and onion petals
The salad is pretty self-explanatory.
For the baked crispy stuff, I took two small sweet onions and TRIED to cut them into petals like you see at the fancy restaurants, but that didn't quite work out. So I contented myself to just have lots of cut up "loose petals."
I sliced one sweet potato into as thin of slices as I could, and failing that at times, made some cubes out of the remainder.
I put all of the onion and potato pieces directly onto cookie sheet, which I had lightly sprayed (with a Misto sprayer) with garlic olive oil first. I then sprayed additional oil on top of the veggies, and on top of that, sprinkled some paprika and cornflake crumbs.
I baked this for 30 minutes at 425 degrees, and voila! Lightly crisp, nicely seasoned, and very yummy. The onions are of a similar taste, though not consistency, to fast food onion rings... albeit a zillion times less greasy and more healthy.
What the heck is Lindy Hop?
The (favorably) ever-present Harald noted in a recent comment that he wasn't sure what Lindy Hop is.
I think I may have explained it WAY earlier in my blogging, but it bears repeating: Lindy Hop is the original American swing dance, invented and popularized by blacks in Harlem, New York.
In its most showy form, Lindy Hop can be the sort of thing millions saw in the famous swing Gap (clothing) commercial a few years ago... lots of acrobatical throwing people overhead, under legs, etc, to upbeat music.
At its core, though, Lindy Hop isn't really about wild airsteps. Rather, it's a highly improvisational and fun partner dance set to a wide range of music (originally big band back in the 20's and 30's). It includes steps like the Charleston, Swingout, Shorty George, Lindy Circle, and others.
For more info, you could check out http://www.ncls.com, or type Lindy Hop into google for some random interesting sites :-)
Or, if you're looking to see some amazing (modern) Lindy Hop, check out the great video clips at www.sflindy.com and www.glitterlisa.com.
If you have any specific questions on Lindy Hop, feel free to post 'em in the comments below, and I'll answer there! :-)
I think I may have explained it WAY earlier in my blogging, but it bears repeating: Lindy Hop is the original American swing dance, invented and popularized by blacks in Harlem, New York.
In its most showy form, Lindy Hop can be the sort of thing millions saw in the famous swing Gap (clothing) commercial a few years ago... lots of acrobatical throwing people overhead, under legs, etc, to upbeat music.
At its core, though, Lindy Hop isn't really about wild airsteps. Rather, it's a highly improvisational and fun partner dance set to a wide range of music (originally big band back in the 20's and 30's). It includes steps like the Charleston, Swingout, Shorty George, Lindy Circle, and others.
For more info, you could check out http://www.ncls.com, or type Lindy Hop into google for some random interesting sites :-)
Or, if you're looking to see some amazing (modern) Lindy Hop, check out the great video clips at www.sflindy.com and www.glitterlisa.com.
If you have any specific questions on Lindy Hop, feel free to post 'em in the comments below, and I'll answer there! :-)
Sunday, September 1, 2002
Moving forward and telling 10% to go home and change
It is with determination and excitement but also some sadness that I am completely redoing my main Web site in XHTML and CSS. To you non-geeks out there, that may elicit a hearty "huh?!" and "who gives a flying cow chip?"
But you should care. For approximately 90% of you, my site will load faster, look cleaner and more professional, be easily updatable (leading to more frequent updates!), and also be accessible to voice browsers, the colorblind, wireless browsers, and more.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that approximately 10% of the folks currently visiting my site are still using old old old old browsers from 1997. When they access my site in the future, they'll get a boring straight-text layout.
I'm sorry, but I'm not that sorry.
Almost anyone can download new browsers for free, or -- in those places where connection time costs money -- for a few dollars at most. I can no longer justify spending countless hours mangling HTML and dealing with futzy layouts and holding back the progress on my site for the (overwhelmingly) ignorant or lazy... or, in some sad cases, the few truly unfortunate souls who simply can't run the most modern browsers on their older systems.
If you're managing to see this entry but everything else on this page looks garbled... well, I hate to tell you this, but then I'm talking about you. And no, I'm not the only stubborn mule on this point nowadays. You're being shut out of lots of sites, trust me.
So if you're one of those 10%, go to http://www.microsoft.com/ie or http://www.netscape.com or http://www.opera.com/ and download a new browser. Please. For your own sake.
But you should care. For approximately 90% of you, my site will load faster, look cleaner and more professional, be easily updatable (leading to more frequent updates!), and also be accessible to voice browsers, the colorblind, wireless browsers, and more.
That's the good news.
The bad news is that approximately 10% of the folks currently visiting my site are still using old old old old browsers from 1997. When they access my site in the future, they'll get a boring straight-text layout.
I'm sorry, but I'm not that sorry.
Almost anyone can download new browsers for free, or -- in those places where connection time costs money -- for a few dollars at most. I can no longer justify spending countless hours mangling HTML and dealing with futzy layouts and holding back the progress on my site for the (overwhelmingly) ignorant or lazy... or, in some sad cases, the few truly unfortunate souls who simply can't run the most modern browsers on their older systems.
If you're managing to see this entry but everything else on this page looks garbled... well, I hate to tell you this, but then I'm talking about you. And no, I'm not the only stubborn mule on this point nowadays. You're being shut out of lots of sites, trust me.
So if you're one of those 10%, go to http://www.microsoft.com/ie or http://www.netscape.com or http://www.opera.com/ and download a new browser. Please. For your own sake.
Strange Practical Fleeting Dream
As I noted in an earlier entry, I'm sick. Not horrible on-my-death-bed-sick, just an annoying cold, but it's enough to have thrown my body out of whack with regards to eating and sleeping habits.
Anyway, so I went to bed at 4am last night, got up at 1:30pm, worked on some stuff for a bit, and then realized that I was exhausted... laid back down, and slept until around 5:30pm.
But during that sleep time, I had a very odd Strange Practical Fleeting Dream.
I was in bed with Anna Nicole Smith and an acquaintance of mine.
Purely in a non-sexual sense. I mean it! And, oddly enough, I never saw Anna Nicole nor touched her. I just somehow knew the identity of that (big) lump to my left.
So the acquaintance ("J") is enthusiastically going on and on about some Lindy Hop Luminary Lady, which induces me to dream (within a dream) of this woman teaching me some Lindy Hop steps.
These turned out to be honest-to-goodness steps I learned a few months ago, but had forgotten I knew! This was my Lindy Angel!
And then I wake up. J's just as excited as I am, and gets a jazz history book (one which I don't own) off my shelf (which does exist), and points out that this Lindy Luminary is indeed historically famous. I marvel that this woman knew "my" moves! I'm also honored that J is sitting in my bed and helping me out (Anna Nicole still doesn't quite register as anything more than a, ahem, large but unimportant presence; she's still mute and moot).
And then I really wake up. I'm still confused but honored that J was in my dream, and I can't wait to add those moves back to my repetoire and also write about the intricacies of this strange dream of a dream.
It's 5:30pm, though, and I haven't eaten anything since 4am the night before, when I pretty much emptied an entire tin of mixed nuts into my stomach. Sure, I couldn't smell them, but how important is that with nuts anyway?
I made myself some spaghetti from leftover pasta and canned sauce plus bunches of extra dried red pepper flakes for that extra nose-clearing kick.
I ate. I reflected. I came back here to my computer.
And then I realized that I forgot 98.6% of the dream. My description above just scratches the surface of the strangeness that was involved in the layerdness, the significance, and the practical brilliance of the dream.
I've also pretty much forgotten those kick-ass Lindy moves that that Lindy Luminary (re)taught me. I remember, in fact, just enough to be frustrated about what I've remembered and forgotten.
And lastly, I don't think I'm going to tell J about him being in bed with me, platonic or not, and it's probably wisest not to let Anna Nicole know of this either.
Oh well. Back to the real world. Let me know if you find my dream, please.
Anyway, so I went to bed at 4am last night, got up at 1:30pm, worked on some stuff for a bit, and then realized that I was exhausted... laid back down, and slept until around 5:30pm.
But during that sleep time, I had a very odd Strange Practical Fleeting Dream.
I was in bed with Anna Nicole Smith and an acquaintance of mine.
Purely in a non-sexual sense. I mean it! And, oddly enough, I never saw Anna Nicole nor touched her. I just somehow knew the identity of that (big) lump to my left.
So the acquaintance ("J") is enthusiastically going on and on about some Lindy Hop Luminary Lady, which induces me to dream (within a dream) of this woman teaching me some Lindy Hop steps.
These turned out to be honest-to-goodness steps I learned a few months ago, but had forgotten I knew! This was my Lindy Angel!
And then I wake up. J's just as excited as I am, and gets a jazz history book (one which I don't own) off my shelf (which does exist), and points out that this Lindy Luminary is indeed historically famous. I marvel that this woman knew "my" moves! I'm also honored that J is sitting in my bed and helping me out (Anna Nicole still doesn't quite register as anything more than a, ahem, large but unimportant presence; she's still mute and moot).
And then I really wake up. I'm still confused but honored that J was in my dream, and I can't wait to add those moves back to my repetoire and also write about the intricacies of this strange dream of a dream.
It's 5:30pm, though, and I haven't eaten anything since 4am the night before, when I pretty much emptied an entire tin of mixed nuts into my stomach. Sure, I couldn't smell them, but how important is that with nuts anyway?
I made myself some spaghetti from leftover pasta and canned sauce plus bunches of extra dried red pepper flakes for that extra nose-clearing kick.
I ate. I reflected. I came back here to my computer.
And then I realized that I forgot 98.6% of the dream. My description above just scratches the surface of the strangeness that was involved in the layerdness, the significance, and the practical brilliance of the dream.
I've also pretty much forgotten those kick-ass Lindy moves that that Lindy Luminary (re)taught me. I remember, in fact, just enough to be frustrated about what I've remembered and forgotten.
And lastly, I don't think I'm going to tell J about him being in bed with me, platonic or not, and it's probably wisest not to let Anna Nicole know of this either.
Oh well. Back to the real world. Let me know if you find my dream, please.
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