Books read this year: 30, mostly fiction

• Favorite non-fiction book: The Omnivore’s Dilemma

The politics of the book aside, the information on our food-chain was stunning! Can’t recommend it highly enough for those that enjoy food and cooking as well as anyone concerned about the things we put in our bodies for fuel.

• Favorite fiction book: Silence of the Grave

Arnaldur Indridason easily emerged as one of my favorite mystery authors this year. The lions share of the author count went to him for the “Inspector Erlendur” series. That the series is translated from his native Icelandic does not diminish the tale, the work or the reading pleasure. If you like mysteries, he comes highly recommended.

Also in the running was the “Mistress of the Art of Death” series by Ariana Franklin. Nothing like a good 10th century “forensic who done it”. Yes, imagine “Bones” or “Scarpetta” in the 10th century working for King Henry II. Historical, suspenseful and educational all at the same time.

• Worst read: The Information Officer

Only good thing I can say about it is that it didn’t cost me anything except my time. I got it from the library.

• Favorite cooking book: Cookwise: The Secrets of Cooking Revealed

Shirley O. Corriher is amazing. Ya, the book is not “new” but the information is timeless. I keep referring to this when trying to diagnose recipe problems. Her chemistry knowledge applied to cooking appeals to my inner geek.

Blogs/Feeds read daily: about 90

• Favorite technical read: Asymco

Keeps me up to speed on what’s going in the world of Mobile

• Favorite food read: Joe Pastry

The man knows his way around flour (and food for that matter). Always an interesting series/discussion going on.

• Favorite “just for fun” read: Flight Level 390

Captain Dave keeps me entertained with tales from the cockpit! Who knew driving an electric-jet would be so much fun to read about.

• Favorite “make me laugh/gasp” read: People of Walmart

It can be family fun time as we catch up on the folks that frequent the “house that Sam built”

Cooking/Eating/Beverages

My enjoyment in this area continues to grow. This year I added more baking into the mix, in particular bread making.

• Favorite Bread: Weissbrot mit Kümmel

Great crust, crumb and taste. A handsome loaf!

• Favorite grill experience: Portobello Mushrooms

I grilled these at least once per week during the summer. So easy and very, very tasty

• Worst meal: that “Indian dish” I tried to make “on the fly” with garam masala.

Sorry I inflicted it on Yvette

• Best meal: Christmas Dinner

Beef Tenderloin in Salt Crust – Alton Brown; Cranberry-Pear chutney – ??; Garlic green beans – Cooks Illustrated; Mashed potatoes – family recipe; Rustic yeast rolls – Cooks Illustrated. My favorite comment about it: “I wish my stomach was bigger”.

• Best restaurant: Michele’s Ristorante, Keene, NH

A wonderful place, great food! We went there for our anniversary dinner and were very impressed!

• Best new kitchen tool: 16 quart stainless steel mixing bowl

When I purchased it I wondered when I would ever use it. The answer: at least 3 times per week. Working in that much space is a pleasure!

• Cooking foods/flavors enjoyed this year

limes: who knew they go in more than just Margaritas; gorgonzola cheese; goat cheese; arugula

• Best “new” personal concoction: homemade pizza sauce
• Favorite “new” alcoholic beverage: Flavored Vodka

I got into flavoring vodka at home this year by making: tomato vodka – good with Bloody Mary’s;  vanilla vodka – 1 shot mixed in with Pumpkinhead ale is quite the treat;  cinnamon vodka – still mixing, but I’m hoping it goes well with winter wheat beer

TV/Movies

I’m not much of a TV watcher, but this year we joined the DVR crowd. As a result I’ve been watching more TV, but on my own schedule.

• Favorite TV show: Fringe - Just love watching this

Up and coming favorites:

• Storage Wars
• American Pickers

• Discovered and watched them all: Dead Like Me

I fell in love with this series. I found it on Netflix streaming and ended up watching the entire series plus the direct to DVD movie. It’s not new but I loved the concept, the acting and the stories. Couldn’t get enough. Too bad there were only 2 seasons and 1 movie.

• Movies: I watch movies (at least in the theater) less than I watch TV. I can’t recall going to the theater in 2010. I believe Avatar was the last movie I saw on the big screen.

Happenings/Events/Visits

• Best personal event: Summer Camp Memories

This year I took a motorcycle ride into the upper Adirondack’s to try and find the summer camp I went to from 1976-78. To my surprise the camp is still there near Rainbow lake, still “open”, but no longer a boy’s summer camp. Instead it’s there for folks like me (old campers) to return to. The family has kept it up and open for week-long stays. The 3-day cycle ride via Plattsburgh, NY (including the excursion to Clair  & Carls)  was just awesome and finding the camp was just a great experience!

• Best event with friends: Otisfield, Maine – Labor Day weekend.

The 50′s party was just a blast!!

• Best personal accomplishment: 55 lbs lost using “Live and Let Diet“

One of the high-points of the year! Hopefully I can keep loosing the weight or at least keep it off. Thanks AB!

• Remembrance: Lucy

On a sad note, we had to put our 10 year old Boston Terrier Lucy down this year. After 10 years the steroids had worn her out. We certainly miss her very much.

I walked away mainly (I’ve told myself in the intervening years) because I was tired of watching “God’s people” treat each other like crap. In the years since I’ve seen that people, churched and unchurched, can treat people with great love and kindness as well as like crap. I guess I was holding those in my congregation to a “higher standard” than those of “the world”.

In my heart of hearts I’m probably a closet religious liberal (I do vote conservative, however). I want to be treated with love and kindness when I fall short and not with a rod all the time. Sure, there needs to be instruction but that’s not how Jesus taught. To those who “knew better” (Scribes and Pharisees) he lashed out, but to those on a “daily walk” he typically instructed with kindness and in a way that provoked self-awareness and personal growth.

The post I read today echos some of what I’m felling, both in my personal live, spiritual wonderings and the restorative relationship process I seem to be under-going. God’s people can be jerks and be cruel and wound more than they think. On the other hand, they are on the journey too and perhaps need to be reminded that being an ass isn’t how they are suposed to act either.

Likewise, I need to realize that my wondering away from my relationship with God is my own fault and not others. God’s giving me the answers to my questions – His grace is sufficient, His people make mistakes (well intentioned or not), He calls on us all to walk the straight path, no matter what turns we make on it. I may not like His answers, but they are the true ones.

Toward the point of the post, I need to be reminded of it lest I forget it and it loose it significance. Being outside the organized religious loop I’ve tried to stay “in touch” with the Gospel message, but alas the basics, while not forgotten, somehow lost their strength in my “day to day”.

Mayhap I was trying too hard to peer into the Gospel. It’s deep enough with out looking further within.

We don’t “work” our way into God’s good graces, we “believe” our way in through faith in the one He sent. Pretty simple – why do we make it complex? I don’t want to discount the need to work for Him, but we don’t do that to obtain what He freely offers to us.

After a number of years being outside of the organized spiritual loop, this is the first passage/message that moved me and caused me to think reflectively about how I got to this point and what keeps me here. I have no idea where it leads (if anywhere), but as a friend of mine once said I feel as if God has the “man at work” signs out for me.

I’ve taken the Sentinel ever since I moved to Keene, NH – which is now pushing 18 years. Before that I took the local news where ever I was living – Sunnyvale and LA, California and before that Knoxville, TN. The Sentinel was a nice change from those larger metro papers. I could consume it in less than 30 minutes and it had a nice mix of local, national and regional as well as sports, comics, puzzles, classifieds, etc. When they started a Sunday edition, I took that too.

It’s not that the paper’s gone down hill, lost it’s important coverage or local importance. What’s happened is  my reading habits have changed – from primarily physical (I don’t really watch much TV news) to mostly digital and in particular web-based syndicated news feeds.

Several years ago I started using a service called Netvibes which allows each user to construct web based pages that display different types of information from various online data suppliers, e.g. gmail, Facebook, news feeds, blogs, and the like. Primarily I use their RSS/ATOM feed system to grab web-based syndicated news from national, regional and local sources as well as syndicated technical, lifestyle, book reviews/events, classified and yes, even comics and bring them all together in one spot. In some cases I’ve had to create RSS feeds from raw web pages using services such as Feed43 and Yahoo! Pipes.

At this point my news consumption is primarily on-line via my Netvibes based custom news portal. Yes, having the technical understand of how to leverage web based content and how to create news feeds has helped, but eventually my feeling is that everyone will be crafting their own “newspaper” using feed syndication – even if newspapers and other media outlets start erecting pay-walls for their content.

I’m perfectly happy to consume news and information from sites that offer it for free, including my local paper. But if I have to pay for it I will so long as it’s worth paying for. If news outlets are simply repackaging AP stories, that’s not worth paying for. Original content that’s meaningful and important to me I’ll gladly pay for. Until then I’ll soak up the free stuff as long as it persists.

For now, however, the only thing that I’ll miss about the printed edition of my local paper is the lack of wood stove starting material.

Update: Seems I’m not alone – I wrote this post before I read the article. Coincident?

To make a long story short, the original images were recorded on tapes but the machines to play them back were very hard to find and in most cases didn’t work. A few entrprising individuals decided those images needed to be saved and took great pains to make sure it happened.

The fruits of all that labor are some stunning images of the moon as it was in the 1960. It’s great to be able to record data, but it’s even more important to have the “player”.

The back yard, as you expect faces due south. Still, it’s shaded by the tree density, its natural downward slope, the rear fence and a garage on the side. It’s kind of like a small bowl. It too is one of the last back yards to break loose from winter’s grip.

Tonight, however, an early cool spring rain is making an impact. The steady fall of water from this early  spring rain storm is reducing the white stuff in the shady spots. While flowers and real greenery are still weeks away, there’s hope that maybe, just maybe, we won’t be the last ones on the block to have a color in the yard other than white.

The crucial lesson was that the scope of things I didn’t know wasn’t merely vast; it was, for all practical purposes, infinite. That realization, instead of being discouraging, was liberating. If our ignorance is infinite, the only possible course of action is to muddle through as best we can.

Next time “you’re with stupid”, feel right at home.

It turns out that when capable designers are given real constraints for real products they can end up creating great results.

While the post is about much more, I found that one line worth the read.

We live in a world that is constrained across numerous dimensions – time, space, physical laws, etc. that must be factored in when designing/developing products – be they physical or digital. The best designs/products push the constraint envelope in one or more areas while still living within them. They are the ones we stand up and take notice of – ones that create trends and open markets. But they happen only when constraints are realized, understood and pushed to their limits.