As you can tell from my relatively lame book review of Riding Rockets below, I have installed the Structured Blogging plugin for WordPress, which enables a set of templates for microformats (though, alas, no hresume or hcard, which I’ll have to dig out from somewhere. The microformats use a standardized structure for common posts. I’ll be using them as needed.

On to finding something for hresume and hcard…

Yummy. No real pear here, but very good.

1 Tblspn Superfine Sugar
3 Lime Sections
5 Leaves of Mint
1 oz. Sour Apple Pucker
1.5 oz. Bicardi Limon Rum
1 oz. Pineapple Juice
Club Soda
Ice

Muddle (mash) the lime, sugar and mint leaves together. Add the Sour Apple Pucker, Limon Rum, & Pineapple Juice and shake with ice. Pour into a tall glass (highball or collins) top off with the club soda. Enjoy.

Anyone else get the feeling that this DST change thing is going to be as catastrophic as y2k was cracked up to be? Not too much hype going on about the fact that EVERY computer needs to be patched. Will we wake up Sunday morning to ATMs spitting out money, planes veering off course, nuclear missiles being launched? Not to mention people not knowing what time it really is on Monday cause the computer clocks are all saying different things?

I don’t know, but I think I’m going to stay inside Sunday, just in case

For Christmas, J bought me a bar set – cocktail shaker, stainer, ice bucket, jigger and a tray. So I went out a bought a bar guide to figure out some drinks I could mix (amateur bartender that I am). We are pretty understocked on liquor and supplies here at home (there’s a bottle of single malt scotch and about half a bottle of vodka here). Luckily, the bar guide defines what a “well stocked bar” should have. Not so lucklily, this list is intended to supply all the drinks needed for a three hour party for 20 guests. I’ve pared it down somewhat to what I think a home collection should have to last…

Posted some photos from a trip last year to the Steven F. Udvar-Hazy Center, which is the annex to the National Air and Space Museum, housing the Concorde and the Space Shuttle Enterprise (along with a lot of other airplanes). The shots aren’t too thrilling, so I just stuck them in the Gallery

– Added a del.icio.us sidebar

– Added gallery to the site (currently empty, requires registration)

– Added Mediawiki to the site (bare bones, requires registration)

A late trip report on our trip to LA and SD in mid Jan:

– It was cold. None of this 80 degree weather you hear about. 50 degree highs, and 30 degree lows. It was warmer at home in DC than it was in Southern California. Go figure

– The wedding was okay. Like I said, it was cold, which limited the number of things you could do. We split time between the wedding and reception watching the Patriots beat the Chargers. Needless to say, in southern CA, there weren’t many Pats fans

– Had a blowout on the interstate travelling from LA to SD, while travelling at 80 mph. Luckily J got us over in time and without injury.

– Saw Y’s palace in SD, and got to meet G (Y got to meet J). Went to the SD Zoo, the Wild Animal Park, the USS Midway, the beach, and had some pretty decent sushi.

Hope to do it again soon….

Introducing the third (and mostly silent) member of our household – Scooter. J’s actually had Scooter for four years, so I had to win her over after winning J over. She’s a rescue, so she’s pretty shy around other people, but once she gets to know you, you’re a friend for life.

Y wanted photos, so here you go

Quick Post Thanksgiving Update:

– Stayed at home for Thanksgiving with J – she cooked the whole meal (delicious). Kept up the traditions of the cranberry sauce out of the can and the PB&J sandwich. The Cowboys win made her day.

– Trip to LA and SD is on track. Fly into LA on 1/12 for my cousin’s wedding. First Indian wedding for J, but my mom will be there to provide play by play. Leave LA and drive down to SD on 1/15, to see C, T and Y. J is looking forward to meeting Y after all the buildup.

– India trip date is up in the air – probably early Feb. Again, mom will be there to provide play by play. I just need to work the dates with my current project

– Picked up a Motorola Q a couple of weeks back. Working very well for me, but only after purchasing/downloading some applications to make up for some deficiencies. TCPMP. the CV suite to read Office docs (the built in viewer had some issues), IM Plus, and Virtual Earth Mobile. Plus Bejewelled. Can’t have a portable device without Bejewelled. Also, I apparently have screwed up MissingSync somehow – going to have to figure out what’s going on there.

– Saw Happy Feet on Friday night. I’d rate it a 2.5/5. A little sappy and wields a a political 2×4 near the end. The film either needed more of Robin Williams (ala Aladdin) or none. And not as a mexican penguin. But overall the movie was still cute.