03.27.03
Posted in General at 8:39 pm by Jules
I’m meeting - in person - one of my long-time ‘net buddies tonight for the first time!
He’s been on holiday here in the States for a little while now, and he’s made it over close to where I am, so we’re going to get together briefly for some coffee. (He’s from Australia. I can’t wait to hear the accent more. LOL)
I’m excited!! Although, I’m a bit apprehensive, as well, as I always am when meeting new people. I believe another of my long-time ‘net buddies (from the same chat room as TKO) is going to be there as well.
Luv, TheGuardian1, Spotaz, and The Kilted One together again!
(Any old WBS chatters out there who may have frequented the Nexus Bar ???)
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Posted in General at 1:32 am by Jules
Turned out YUMMY
Chicken and Vegetable Bake
Are the kids giving you a hard time about eating vegetables? Try this delicious dish!
INGREDIENTS:
2 boneless skinless whole chicken breasts, cut in half
dried thyme (I didn’t use thyme)
1 16 oz can chopped tomatoes
1 zucchini
1 summer squash
1/2 package baby carrot
1 chopped small onion
1 sliced red bell pepper
olive oil
parsley (I didn’t use parsley)
marjoram
(sage)
(Tony Chachery’s Herbs and Spices)
(Nature’s Seasons)
PREPARATION:
1. Cut up the vegetables, except the tomato and put them into a baking dish with the chicken.
2. Mix about 1/4 to 1/2 cup olive oil with the herbs of your choice.
3. Pour the olive oil/herb mix on top of the chicken and vegetables, coating them.
4. Cover with tin foil and bake at 350 degrees for 45 minutes (or until chicken is no longer pink).
5. Uncover and pour canned tomatoes on top.
6. Bake for another 10 minutes or so.
PREP/COOK INFORMATION:
Prep time: 20 minutes minutes
Cook time: 60 minutes minutes
Serves: 4
NUTRITIONAL INFORMATION:
Calories 279 Carbs 19 Fat 4 grams Protein 38 grams
Source: Stacey-Jo
http://www.ivillage.com/food/menu/meal_print/0,,113,00.html
My changes: I mixed my spices with less oil and brushed it over the chicken. I added more spices on top of the veggies after I put them in. Less oil = healthier.
Edited on Mar 27th 2003, 02:34 by entipy
Edited on Mar 27th 2003, 02:36 by entipy
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03.26.03
Posted in General at 1:20 am by Jules
I was once - in certain circles - affectionately known as the “Font Queen” because I had a vast number of fonts at my disposal and because I had this great ability to pick the perfect font for any occasion. (I actually have a buddy who still calls me Font Queen sometimes.)
However, several years ago, I finally learned that having so many fonts installed on your system slows it down drastically, so… I uninstalled them all and stopped having so many in the system.
Enter the search for a font manager. Gees! You’d think it wouldn’t be hard to find one you like, but I had a heckuva time. I downloaded and tried and downloaded and tried so many managers, and I never could find one which operated like I wanted it to operate. (Side note: back in about 1996, I had an HP font manager program which was simple and easy-to-use. Of course, it was for Windows 3.x, and I lost the diskette [yes, diskette! LOL] long ago. It was a two-paned drag-and-drop interface with installed fonts on the left and uninstalled fonts on the right. I never thought the day would come, but I have found myself often longing for that HP software. *shudder*) I have finally decided to actually work with one for awhile and see if I can become accustomed enough to it to actually use it. After all, I was a diehard Netscape girl until about 1999 or 2000. Now I’m an Internet Exploiter user, and I can’t imagine going back to Netscape (or even Mozilla. I’ve tried it, too) and using it all the time. *sigh*
Anyway! I finally decided to try The Font Thing for awhile and see how I like it. So far so good!
If anyone ever has any help in picking just the right font, feel free to give me a shout. The Queen will be more than happy to step in and help. 
(LOL)
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03.25.03
Posted in General at 12:33 am by Jules
I’m just tired of it all… I’m tired of the pro-war talk. I’m tired of the anti-war talk. I can’t seem to get away from it. Everywhere I go, that’s what people are talking about, and half the time it’s just spouting off.
BLEH!
I watched movies this weekend… some really good ones, too! I’m so glad I’ve gotten back into renting again. I’m such a movie person; I can’t believe I went so long and got so far behind in my film watching.
I didn’t watch the Oscars - for the first time in years - because I didn’t want to hear anything about the war. That sucks. I always love watching the awards ceremonies. I just didn’t want to get angry at all the useless banter.
I’m rambling.
I’ve been chewing on Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance for a little while now. It’s interesting, but I’m moving quite slowly through the book because I only read a little bit here and there - which I think is probably not the best way to handle this particular book. I’m intrigued by the whole Phaedrus thing, but I’ve not gotten far enough into it to know a lot yet.
I’ve rededicated myself to being healthy and getting my chi and chakras into shape. It’s quite difficult for someone as lazy as I, but it’s definitely needed. I’ve come off all my medications and so far all is well. (It’s only been a week, though.) I must find ways of dealing with my anger and frustrations rather than just medicating them.
Our menu for this week sounds promising:
Tuesday: Seafood Carnival (A snapper and shrimp dish served with rice), Green Salad, Fresh Fruit Salad
Wednesday: Chicken and Vegetable Bake, pan-roasted potatoes, peaches with brown sugar
Thursday: Black Bean Paello with Venison Sausage, Mexican Cornbread, and spiced apples
Friday: pizza night (WOO HOO! LOL)
Saturday: grill night… chicken wings, celery with ranch, and fries
Yummy… lots of fun food preps… and most of it is quite healthy!
Ok, I think I’m done for now.
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03.18.03
Posted in General at 7:27 pm by Jules
As stated by Neal Barnard:
[Quote]
Doctors should become less wealthy.
I think that the availability of insurance has insulated doctors from their patients. My grandfather, when he treated someone, might have gotten some vegetables as payment, and his bills were low. Now, because of the wide availability of insurance, doctors unabashedly charge enormous rates because they know that the patient actually isn’t going to pay it. The patient does pay it right away — they pay it in the insurance premiums that have been extracted from their paychecks, but it’s been smoothed out over the course of the year, and the patients don’t really mind these exorbitant fees. Doctors are driving BMWs and Mercedes. I consider it unethical, and frankly, it’s becoming more grotesque with time.
[Quote]
I so totally agree!!!
Jules
=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=/=
“So you watch yourself about complaining, Sister.
What you’re supposed to do when you don’t like a thing is change it.
If you can’t change it, change the way you think about it.
Don’t complain.”
~ Maya Angelou
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03.12.03
Posted in General at 3:29 pm by Jules
This is so stupid….
LINK
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03.11.03
Posted in General at 6:59 pm by Jules
If you haven’t already, try it!
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Posted in General at 1:22 pm by Jules
Nothing like a friend to make you feel good!
I was just sitting here at work, singing a bit, and just after I stopped, my co-worker/friend said, “I watched [insert name here] talking about irritable bowel syndrome on TV last night.”
Gee, thanks.
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03.10.03
Posted in General at 2:06 am by Jules
from annoyances.org
What if cars really were like computers? You’d have a helpline to assist in solving problems as they came up… Now just imagine if the same people that answer the phones at Microsoft had to answer the General Motors helpline…
HelpLine: “General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?”
Customer: “I can get in through the driver’s side door just fine, but I can’t open the passenger’s side.”
HelpLine: “How did you try to open the passenger’s side?”
Customer: “I pulled up on the handle, just like on the other side.”
HelpLine: “People are always making that mistake. You have to push on the passenger’s side. Remember, you’re always moving the handle toward the left of the car. It’s more consistent that way.”
HelpLine: “General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?”
Customer: “How do I turn my windshield wipers on?”
HelpLine: “There’s a little button on the radio console . . .”
Customer: “Radio console??”
HelpLine: “Yes, it’s more efficient to have all the controls in one central position. Look for the one with a shape like a piece of pie on it.”
Customer: “And that’s the windshield wiper button? I was always wondering what that did.”
HelpLine: “People are always asking that. You’d think they’d be more familiar with the principles of graphic design.”
HelpLine: “General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?”
Customer: “My car will go forward, but when I put it in reverse, nothing happens.”
HelpLine: “What model do you have?”
Customer: “It’s a brand new 1994 Mongoose.”
HelpLine: “Yes, but it is a 1994R with a big R or 1994r with a small r?”
Customer: “I don’t know. Let me find out and I’ll call you back.”
HelpLine: “Alright, but let me tell you you’ve probably got the small r model. You’ll need to upgrade to the big R version to go in reverse.”
HelpLine: “General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?”
Customer: “I just called about the car that wouldn’t go in reverse.”
HelpLine: “Well, yes, we get a lot of calls about that.”
Customer: “It turns out I have the small r model. But I bought the one with the ‘Reverse gear option’.”
HelpLine: “Yes, that’s the option to upgrade to a reverse gear.”
Customer: “Why don’t they all just come with a reverse gear in the first place?”
HelpLine: “Well, that’s very difficult to do, even for our world-class engineers, and not everyone may want it. Also, it makes the car more complicated to drive. So we offer it as an option to our ‘power drivers’.”
Customer: “How come all the Jupiters have had it standard since 1974?”
HelpLine” “Ahem. Well, yes, they’re not a market leader, they’re just for people who really like working on cars. If you really want to get involved in those kind complicated details, go right ahead . . .”
But really, we’re leaving out an important part:
HelpLine: “General Motors HelpLine, how can I help you?”
Customer: “My car just caught fire.”
HelpLine: “I see. And what model was it?”
Customer: “1994r Mongoose.”
HelpLine: “Big or small . . .”
Customer: ” . . . small r.”
HelpLine: “And your registration number?”
Customer: “426917-woof-271828-arf-314159-spam.”
HelpLine: “And where did you buy your car?”
Customer: “Fast Eddie’s Sports-o-rama in Glendale.”
HelpLine: “And what was the name of the salesman?”
Customer: “I don’t remember.”
HelpLine: “I see. Are you sure you didn’t steal this car?”
Customer: “Of course I didn’t steal it!”
HelpLine: “And would you be interested in purchasing our extended service contract?”
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Posted in General at 1:03 am by Jules
Top 20 Ways Microsoft Would Change The Auto Industry
20. The radio would be computerized, but you’d need to install 64 Meg of RAM, a new sound card, a game card, a new video driver, a CD drive, and type C:radiotalkrush*.* to get it to play.
19. The entire engine wouldn’t be in the bay at once, and the car would have to keep stopping and starting to load in the relevant parts.
18. The speedometer would read 70 even though you are only doing 50.
17. You would have to have a full service every 500 miles.
16. Your car would refuse to start with a message “Abort, Retry, Fail?”
15. For some reason the engine controller would need a 1G hard disc and would take 5 minutes to boot up.
14. The steering wheel would be replaced with a mouse and you’d need to memorize the keyboard short-cut for “Brake”.
13. A particular model year of car wouldn’t be available until after that year- instead of before it.
12. They wouldn’t build their own engines but form a cartel with their engine supplier. The latest engine would have 16 cylinders, multi-point fuel injection and 4 turbos, but it would be a side-valve design so you could use Model-T Ford parts on it. There would be an “Engium Pro” with bigger turbos, but it would be slower on most existing roads.
11. The air bag system would say “Are you sure?” before going off.
10. New seats would require everyone to have the same butt size.
9. We would all have to switch to Microsoft Gas.
8. The U.S. government would be forced to rebuild all of the roads for Microsoft cars; they will drive on the old roads, but they run very slowly.
7. The oil, alternator, gas and engine warning lights would be replaced by a single ‘General Car Fault’ warning light.
6. Sun MotorSystems would make a car that was solar-powered, twice as reliable and five times as fast, but would run on only 5% of the roads.
5. You would be constantly pressured to upgrade your car.
4. You could have only one person in the car at a time, unless you bought a Car95 or CarNT — but then you would have to buy ten more seats and a new engine.
3. Occasionally, your car would die for NO apparent reason and you would have to restart it. Strangely, you would just accept this as normal.
3a. Occasionally, executing a maneuver would cause your car to stop and fail to restart and you’d have to re-install the engine. For some strange reason, you’d just accept this, too.
2. Every time the lines of the road were repainted, you would have to buy a new car.
1. People would get excited about the new features of the latest Microsoft cars, forgetting that these same features had been available from other car makers for years.
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Posted in General at 12:57 am by Jules
If Operating Systems were Airlines
DOS AIR All the passengers go out onto the runway, grab hold of the plane, push it until it gets in the air, hop on, jump off when it hits the ground again. Then they grab the plane again, push it back into the air, hop on, etcetera.
WINDOWS ‘95 AIRLINES The terminal is very neat and clean, the attendants are all very attractive and the pilots very capable. The fleet is immense. After your plane arrives 6 months late, you begin to wonder why it has not arrived yet. Your jet takes off without a hitch, pushing above the clouds, and at 20,000 feet it crashes without warning.
MAC AIRWAYS The cashiers, flight attendants, and pilots all look the same, feel the same and act the same. When asked questions about the flight they reply that you don’t want to know, don’t need to know, and would you please return to your seat and watch the movie.
OS/2 SKYWAYS The terminal is almost empty, with only a few prospective passengers milling about. Airline personnel walk around, apologising profusely to customers in hushed voices, pointing from time to time to the sleek, powerful jets outside the terminal on the field. They tell each passenger how good the real flight will be on these new jets and how much safer it will be than Windows Airlines, but that they will have to wait a little longer for the technicians to finish the flight systems.
FLY WINDOWS NT All the passengers carry their seats out onto the tarmac, placing the chairs in the outline of a plane. They all sit down, flap their arms and make jet swooshing sounds as if they are flying.
WINGS of AS/400 The airline has bought ancient DC-3s, arguably the best and safest planes that ever flew and painted “747″ on their tails to make them look as if they are fast. The flight attendants, of course, attend to your every need, though the drinks cost $15 a pop. Stupid questions cost $230 per hour, unless you have SupportLine, which requires a first class ticket and membership in the frequent flyer club.
VMS AIRLINES The passengers all gather in the hanger, watching hundreds of technicians check the flight systems on this immense, luxury aircraft. This plane has at least 10 engines and seats over 1,000 passengers. All the passengers scramble aboard, as do the necessary complement of 200 technicians. The pilot takes his place up in the glass cockpit. He guns the engines, only to realise that the plane is too big to get through the hangar doors!
UNIX EXPRESS Each passenger brings a piece of the airplane and a box of tools to the airport. They gather on the tarmac, arguing constantly about what kind of plane they want to build and how to put it together. Eventually, they build several different aircraft, but give them all the same name. Some passengers actually reach their destinations. All passengers believe they got there.
Edited on Mar 10th 2003, 01:59 by entipy
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Posted in General at 12:47 am by Jules
Top 10 things likely to be overheard from a Klingon Programmer
1 - Specifications are for the weak and timid!
2 - You question the worthiness of my code? I should kill you where you stand!
3 - Indentation?! - I will show you how to indent when I indent your skull!
4 - What is this talk of ‘release’? Klingons do not make software ‘releases’. Our software ‘escapes’ leaving a bloody trail of designers and quality assurance people in its wake.
5 - Klingon function calls do not have ‘parameters’ - they have ‘arguments’ - and they ALWAYS WIN THEM.
6 - Debugging? Klingons do not debug. Our software does not coddle the weak.
7 - A TRUE Klingon Warrior does not comment on his code!
8 - Klingon software does NOT have BUGS. It has FEATURES, and those features are too sophisticated for a Romulan pig like you to understand.
9 - You cannot truly appreciate Dilbert unless you’ve read it in the original Klingon.
10 - Our users will know fear and cower before our software! Ship it! Ship it and let them flee like the dogs they are!
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03.09.03
Posted in General at 10:16 pm by Jules
One Hour Photo
Very interesting movie. Scary and disturbing…. Robin Williams did an excellent job, of course. I would definitely recommend it.
Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood
I just love this movie!!! I know most people would call it a “chick flick,” but it was great to watch. I always like a movie which makes me laugh AND cry.
Original Sin
Antonio Banderas, Angelina Jolie, and sex. Nothing more needs to be said!
fans herself and wipes her brow with a cold wet paper towel
The Sum of All Fears
Great movie. Not my bag, really. But still great.
Still have to watch Windtalkers. I can’t wait to see it.
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03.07.03
Posted in General at 2:07 am by Jules
Apparently, the time for military action against Saddam Hussein draws ever closer.
I watched Pres. Bush on TV tonight, and I must say, I think he’s right. There has been ample time for Hussein to comply with the UN’s resolution to disarm. To think that he has nothing to disarm is pretty naive, in my opinion. There are still some things about the situation I don’t understand, and there are still some things I don’t know. I don’t want to see it come to war, but I think taking NO action would be even worse.
Personally, I think we should dispose of ALL nuclear weapons. Period! There’s no need for them.
My words aren’t coming as readily as I would like, so this all might sound kinda sketchy…. but in closing, I truly believe that:
An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.
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03.02.03
Posted in General at 4:01 pm by Jules
My friend hates this movie because of all the “modern music” touches thrown into the midst of the medieval traditions, etc. Eh, I like it. It’s a fun movie if nothing else.
I’ve not had much to say around here lately. I’m not totally sure why that is. I suppose I haven’t done anything interesting enough to write an entry about, and I haven’t felt inclined to comment on very much.
We went down to Universal Studios and Islands of Adventure (Orlando, Florida) last weekend. It was great fun! Islands of Adventure was better than Universal, especially the Marvel Superheroes section! The Spiderman “ride” was amazing. It was a totally tactile 3D experience the likes of which you’ve never seen before!
I didn’t ride the two big roller coasters (for reasons which I would rather not share right now - but it wasn’t because I didn’t want to!), but I heard they were awesome. The Hulk being one; Dueling Dragons being the other. The Hulk starts out slow, uphill, like so many other coasters. Then suddenly you’re launched out of a tube into a twist. Zero to 40 mph in 2 seconds!!! Then it goes twist, turns, loops, etc… and doesn’t slow down the whole time. Dueling Dragons is an inverted near-miss coaster. It’s actually two coasters intertwined together…. really cool.
We also went to Medieval Times while we were down there. It was cheesy but very entertaining, and the food was delicious. The “knights” were very talented, and the horses were AMAZING. Most of them were Andalusian stallions. Ahhhhh… such horses I’ve never seen before.
So, there’s my babbling for the day.
Later…
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