It has been discovered recently that there is a deficit of pie in Jersey City.
Grace Church Van Vorst, which is not too far from my home, is having a pie-baking contest on November 5.
I've never made a pie, and I wouldn't really know where to start. But Michael Kraiger can make a pie.
I cannot exactly issue a challenge to Michael Kraiger, because his pies would wipe the floor with my pies. But perhaps if they grade on a curve, my pies would make his pies look better. If someone out there can tell me how to make a not-too-embarrassing pie, I could enter this throwdown and at least help him look good. Or if I can't look good, at least I could look silly. Does a Ritz Cracker mock-apple pie count?
Friday, October 06, 2006
If I Wore Costumes...
...then I'd wear this one that Ax pointed out to me last night.
The costume designer obviously forgot to imprint the map of the Jersey Shore on the front, but I can do that.
Except I won't. I don't really wear costumes, don't have a costume party to attend, and I could nearly buy a new storm window for the same price as this here shark outfit. But I like it in theory.
Thursday, October 05, 2006
Faint Praise
I found this mention with my Google alerts.
"Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik" by Marie Javins
Turning out to be better than I'd thought it might be."
Um, that's a good thing, right?
Update: Seems the reader just gave it five stars on Amazon! Won over a skeptic. I'm chuffed.
"Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik" by Marie Javins
Turning out to be better than I'd thought it might be."
Um, that's a good thing, right?
Update: Seems the reader just gave it five stars on Amazon! Won over a skeptic. I'm chuffed.
Wikipedia
All right, 'fess up. Who did this?
And why did it seem important to name my parents in it? I just edited those out. Why don't we just post my middle name, social security number, and mother's maiden name while we're at it?
And why did it seem important to name my parents in it? I just edited those out. Why don't we just post my middle name, social security number, and mother's maiden name while we're at it?
Wednesday, October 04, 2006
Scooby Dogs and Storm Windows
I try to avoid the JC Home Depot because I cannot resist the pull of the Scooby dog.
The Scooby dog comes from the Scooby truck, which was once bedecked in colorful images of Scooby-Doo and his pals. Baseball enthusiasts may argue that the home of the better dog is in the Bronx or Boston or Chicago, but for my money, it's on Rt. 440 in front of Home Depot.
I really just meant to go to the window store over near Bayonne. I have two hundred-year-old windows in my apartment's airshaft. Turbo restored them and got them working a year-and-a-half ago, but when we took off the storm windows, they were so disgustingly weathered that we left them off. One went to the scrap metal guys, who patrol the streets on trash days. The other is at the bottom of the airshaft.
I don't care if there are storm windows or not since in winter, I dress up all my windows in aesthetically displeasing plastic. But no home inspector is going to let his client close on my place without something reasonably modern and weather-proof in the window openings.
"We don't even sell storm windows," said the salesman at the window store. "It's more practical to buy new vinyl windows."
A new vinyl window is $118. A new alumininum window is $200. Installed? $500 for either. Two windows? $1,000.
The salesman gave me a handout. "It's not hard to install a new window. Read these instructions. You could do it yourself."
"Even when it's a hundred-year-old building with no square corners?"
"Sure."
Hmmm. Skepticism. Plus, I'd wanted to keep the old wooden windows for a reason. They're cool. They're original. They're restored. And yet... I'm not even going to be living here.
I drove Henry the 1990 Ford Taurus up the street.
Maybe Home Depot has windows. Mmmm... the Scooby dog truck. No, must resist...
Inside HD were... storm windows! $80 each. But oh so complicated... did I want the kind that "outside mount" or "blind stop." And how do I measure for storm windows?
I measure by climbing down into the airshaft and measuring the OLD window. That way I get it right.
I couldn't decide. Did I want to pay someone (with money that does not exist, since one client is now two months behind in paying me) to install new windows, DIY, or get new storm windows?
I didn't know. But I did know what I wanted on my Scooby dog.
"Ketchup and relish, please."
"Sure, hon."
I contemplated windows and munched my dog in the Home Depot parking lot.
The Scooby dog comes from the Scooby truck, which was once bedecked in colorful images of Scooby-Doo and his pals. Baseball enthusiasts may argue that the home of the better dog is in the Bronx or Boston or Chicago, but for my money, it's on Rt. 440 in front of Home Depot.
I really just meant to go to the window store over near Bayonne. I have two hundred-year-old windows in my apartment's airshaft. Turbo restored them and got them working a year-and-a-half ago, but when we took off the storm windows, they were so disgustingly weathered that we left them off. One went to the scrap metal guys, who patrol the streets on trash days. The other is at the bottom of the airshaft.
I don't care if there are storm windows or not since in winter, I dress up all my windows in aesthetically displeasing plastic. But no home inspector is going to let his client close on my place without something reasonably modern and weather-proof in the window openings.
"We don't even sell storm windows," said the salesman at the window store. "It's more practical to buy new vinyl windows."
A new vinyl window is $118. A new alumininum window is $200. Installed? $500 for either. Two windows? $1,000.
The salesman gave me a handout. "It's not hard to install a new window. Read these instructions. You could do it yourself."
"Even when it's a hundred-year-old building with no square corners?"
"Sure."
Hmmm. Skepticism. Plus, I'd wanted to keep the old wooden windows for a reason. They're cool. They're original. They're restored. And yet... I'm not even going to be living here.
I drove Henry the 1990 Ford Taurus up the street.
Maybe Home Depot has windows. Mmmm... the Scooby dog truck. No, must resist...
Inside HD were... storm windows! $80 each. But oh so complicated... did I want the kind that "outside mount" or "blind stop." And how do I measure for storm windows?
I measure by climbing down into the airshaft and measuring the OLD window. That way I get it right.
I couldn't decide. Did I want to pay someone (with money that does not exist, since one client is now two months behind in paying me) to install new windows, DIY, or get new storm windows?
I didn't know. But I did know what I wanted on my Scooby dog.
"Ketchup and relish, please."
"Sure, hon."
I contemplated windows and munched my dog in the Home Depot parking lot.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Ro's Halloween Costume
Ro found a bunch of costumes on Target's website. She'll buy one and modify it somewhat, but buying a Target costume is definitely the easiest answer to her Halloween costume dilemma.
What's your vote? I thought maybe she should modify "Cat" into "Dik-Dik," or just go as one not on the site--as a banana-in-pajamas. That'll knock the boys out. Bananas are good. I also like pajamas.
boxer girl * sassy grim reaper * evil pixie * bellhop * Marilyn * flapper * funky cat
Scanner Woes
My new 11x17 (A3) scanner arrived yesterday! I promptly ignored it, and left it in the middle of the kitchen. This morning, after tripping over the unopened box, I dug in.
I unpacked all the parts and found a place to position the scanner (it's kind of big). I followed Steve Lieber's instructions to the letter, and for good measure cross-referenced them with other instructions.
Re-started. The driver was there in Photoshop. Great. Plugged in the scanner.
Nothing.
No light. No noise. Nothing.
I tried a different a/c adapter, one with the same voltage. Still nothing. For good measure, I booted up in OS 9, installed the official Mustek OS 9 driver, and tried in Photoshop 6. The software was there. The scanner was still dead.
I was sent a broken scanner. Crap.
I unpacked all the parts and found a place to position the scanner (it's kind of big). I followed Steve Lieber's instructions to the letter, and for good measure cross-referenced them with other instructions.
Re-started. The driver was there in Photoshop. Great. Plugged in the scanner.
Nothing.
No light. No noise. Nothing.
I tried a different a/c adapter, one with the same voltage. Still nothing. For good measure, I booted up in OS 9, installed the official Mustek OS 9 driver, and tried in Photoshop 6. The software was there. The scanner was still dead.
I was sent a broken scanner. Crap.
Monday, October 02, 2006
Halloween with Ro
Does anyone have suggestions for what costume Roberta should wear for Halloween? She's invited to a party and attending requires her to wear a costume. I suggested "plumber" and "real estate agent," and she wants something cuter than than, but not too cute, as I discovered yesterday when I called her from Target to report that they sell adult cheerleader costumes.
All suggestions welcomed. She is tall and thin and a fine arts painter. So "starving artist" is out. She has to look different than normal.
All suggestions welcomed. She is tall and thin and a fine arts painter. So "starving artist" is out. She has to look different than normal.
Dik-Dik Alert
GoNOMAD.com has posted an excerpt from my book, Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik.
If you've been reading this blog since the beginning, or if you read MariesWorldTour.com, some of it might seem kind of familiar. But if you've already read the book, then it will all sound familiar.
Sunday, October 01, 2006
Dik-Dik on Written Road
Kelly Amabile, a writer and contributor on writtenroad.com has posted a super-duper review of Stalking the Wild Dik-Dik. And I don't even know her! Ax does, through the writing class she famously teaches, but apparently this had nothing to do with Kelly's final passing grade.
Ax and Edward R-H called my attention to the review. I'm so clueless about the industry I pretend to be steeped in that I don't even look around, and my Google alerts missed the mention. (It will probably show up in a week or so.) I clicked over to check it out and got engrossed in Kelly's post about going gadget-less instead.
In some ways, I am attached at the hip to my laptop. But I don't always carry it. When I went around the world for a year, iBooks hadn't been invented yet (the light white kind, I mean, there were heavier models), and Airport had been but you sure couldn't get it at Starbucks. But the 4-pound Powerbook Duo 230 had been invented, and I took it on the 20-day cargo ship journey. I posted it home from Australia, and don't think I've turned it on since.
After that, I used the same method that Kelly used. Pen and paper. Furiously typing at internet cafes. Scanned in images from photos developed en route. Don't laugh--at this time, you couldn't get the photos OFF of a digital camera without installing a driver, and no internet cafe would let you install software on their machines. USB was far from ubiquitous. Remember floppy disks? There were no thumb drives.
This was only five years ago.
Anyway, going gadgetless as Kelly did is near-and-dear to my heart. Less to carry. Fewer adapters to fuss with. No worry about breaking your laptop, losing it, or having it stolen. No worries about electrical outlets--which are hard to come by in many of the places I traveled in. And all those bumpy rides on dirt roads--they're hard on you, and even harder on your gadgets.
I've certainly taken my laptop and digital camera on every trip since--except Antarctica--because most of them involved staying in one place for months. And my laptop is my ticket to a paycheck. But would I take it along to West Africa? No. Not unless I was freelancing in Photoshop from the road. There is nothing wrong with pen and paper, and you can buy a new supply anywhere in the world.
P.S. I do take my Euro-cell phone along everywhere though. Buy a new SIM card in every region, and I can text-to-email from it. So I guess I was lying to myself when I said I could go gadget-less a few hours ago. Even in the national park in Uganda, I could be reached from any email account via my phone. And even if there is no power outlet, there are small businesses in the bush where people charge phones for a small fee, via solar panels.
Ax and Edward R-H called my attention to the review. I'm so clueless about the industry I pretend to be steeped in that I don't even look around, and my Google alerts missed the mention. (It will probably show up in a week or so.) I clicked over to check it out and got engrossed in Kelly's post about going gadget-less instead.
In some ways, I am attached at the hip to my laptop. But I don't always carry it. When I went around the world for a year, iBooks hadn't been invented yet (the light white kind, I mean, there were heavier models), and Airport had been but you sure couldn't get it at Starbucks. But the 4-pound Powerbook Duo 230 had been invented, and I took it on the 20-day cargo ship journey. I posted it home from Australia, and don't think I've turned it on since.
After that, I used the same method that Kelly used. Pen and paper. Furiously typing at internet cafes. Scanned in images from photos developed en route. Don't laugh--at this time, you couldn't get the photos OFF of a digital camera without installing a driver, and no internet cafe would let you install software on their machines. USB was far from ubiquitous. Remember floppy disks? There were no thumb drives.
This was only five years ago.
Anyway, going gadgetless as Kelly did is near-and-dear to my heart. Less to carry. Fewer adapters to fuss with. No worry about breaking your laptop, losing it, or having it stolen. No worries about electrical outlets--which are hard to come by in many of the places I traveled in. And all those bumpy rides on dirt roads--they're hard on you, and even harder on your gadgets.
I've certainly taken my laptop and digital camera on every trip since--except Antarctica--because most of them involved staying in one place for months. And my laptop is my ticket to a paycheck. But would I take it along to West Africa? No. Not unless I was freelancing in Photoshop from the road. There is nothing wrong with pen and paper, and you can buy a new supply anywhere in the world.
P.S. I do take my Euro-cell phone along everywhere though. Buy a new SIM card in every region, and I can text-to-email from it. So I guess I was lying to myself when I said I could go gadget-less a few hours ago. Even in the national park in Uganda, I could be reached from any email account via my phone. And even if there is no power outlet, there are small businesses in the bush where people charge phones for a small fee, via solar panels.