With Great Power Comes Great Responsibility

In an effort to keep myself better organized I installed Google Chrome onto my iPod Touch. While I still write down events, to-do's, and other reminders (just like Dad) I don't always carry that piece of paper or the calendar on refrigerator with me.

I don't like that if I delete a folder from my desktop bookmarks on the iPod version, it deletes them from my Mac or Chromebook as well so I'll have to be careful. I should copy certain saved links and put them in my Mobile Bookmark folder and use just those. This way I won't be tempted to check Facebook, Twitter and other distractions. I was signed up for the Bored and Brilliant program, but leaving my Location on was draining the battery.

Honestly, once I had removed my social media apps, I wasn't checking them as much as I was. I just need to exert more self-control and not check my Desktop Bookmarks when I have a wifi signal.

Trimming The Fat

Taking another cue from my brother and friend, I recently deleted the Facebook, Tumblr, and Twitter apps from my iPod Touch to avoid being bored and become more brilliant. 

Right away I noticed that the Touch has more battery life since I stopped checking in every thirty minutes. Some of that time was spent using my Chromebook to check in. That could be resolved by putting the laptop into my Bag of Holding.

I hope being able to connect only through wifi won’t be a problem for the bored and brilliant challenges that will start on February 2nd. I'm excited for the project from New Tech City because I see a lot of my friends checking their phones every five minutes, even during conversations. I'm guilty of doing the same.

Writing this took a lot longer since I kept checking all those links.

Weird Dreams Are Made Of These

Today's blog will take a backseat to the weird dreams I had this weekend.

Friday, I spent close to 7 hours of playing Borderlands The Pre-Sequel with my friend Damon, on a 92 inch screen! Along with surround sound speakers, you become immersed in the game.

When he first invited me over to his house, I was impressed with the "TV", which is actually a Panasonic ICD projector. Damon did all the work himself, since he's the owner and president of Premier Audio Video Designs.

I had an opportunity to go to a trade show and see some of the upcoming TVs, projectors, speakers, and other home entertainment equipment. I remember that little box that had the slider for TV and Game on it. Now there are receivers with 10 ports for speakers alone.

Back to the original topic;

I don't remember much about the dream itself except that I had to press A to continue throughout it.

Saturday was weird, even for me. I was wading through the sewers of Valhalla, waist deep even. I'm a germaphobe in real life, but that didn't bother me at all in the dream. I was carrying my small travel suitcase above my head, to keep the clothes and chromebook inside dry.

I saw the ladder to get out, and as I was climbing up, the suitcase fell into the water. I grabbed it by the handle, so only the bottom got wet. Once I was on the street, these two 20 year olds came out after me and told me to hide. We made it to a rooftop, where I got to check my belongings. My clothes were wet, and so was my chromebook. As I lifted it out of the suitcase, water dripped out. I opened it up to see if was still working and to my surprise it was. I had to reboot it through a sequence that involved pressing 3 buttons, then playing a level of Street Fighter. Then I woke up...

Tasty Accident

During visits to my parents, I rarely have to cook, unless it’s breakfast. My parent's have an electric stove which I’m not used to, so I tend to set the top burners higher than I should. This year’s Christmas trip led to a tastier version of the Gordon Ramsey scrambled egg recipe.

While I was throwing out the shells, the eggs had a chance to cook and the whites formed. Luckily, they didn't cook all the way through so I was still able to scramble them. The yolks broke and mixed, so I kept stirring. The outcome was scrambled eggs with bigger bits of white in them. This combination with the butter made for moist, tastier eggs. Add in the guacamole, and it made for a new breakfast meal staple.

If You Didn't Write It Down, It Didn't Happen

The title of this post is one the best pieces of advice I've gotten in my lifetime, and it never held truer till yesterday.

As I was getting ready to run errands, I headed to the bathroom to brush my teeth. Thinking out loud to myself, I had a idea for this Sunday's blog which made me happy. I even said, I should write it down now, then changed my mind to do it afterwards.

I got distracted with other thoughts, and putting my wallet, keys, and phone into pockets. So the idea never physically manifested onto paper or my iPod. One of my thoughts was to enable Siri so I could keep track for the future.

I'm hoping I remember it again.

In The Cucina With Seamas

I changed up this morning's breakfast from yesterday by toasting the ciabatta bread, making the eggs sunny side up, and not putting salsa on it. Also spiced it with black pepper, and garlic. It was the better tasting breakfast, I think it was the lack of salsa today that let all the flavors through.

I would have never thought of adding avocados to breakfast, and I'm grateful for the interweb showing me a new way to enjoy breakfast.

Emergency Repair Procedure Number One

While I didn't kick it, I did reboot my Kindle Fire this afternoon. The trouble started last night, I was eager to watch The Wolf of Wall Street but the Netflix app kept giving me a No Data, Retry message. I signed out and back in, with the same result.

Next I tried shutting down the Kindle, but after powering up I was still couldn't get past the message. At this point I checked my iPod Touch to see if it was an issue with the Netflix servers. There I was able to log in without an issue, but I didn't feel like watching a 3 hour movie on it's tiny screen.

I decided to remove the Netflix app from the Kindle to re-install it, and I ran into another problem. The Kindle App Store couldn't find it! I decided to try Netflix on the Kindle's web, and after checking 'yes, keep loading' despite the security warnings, it couldn't load the movie.

At this point I decided to shut it off, and reset the device today. I watched the movie on my Google Chromebook. It was a bit of balancing act since I didn't want to cover the air vents while I watched the movie. I'm not sure how much battery power was at the beginning of the movie, however after 3 hours it was at 54 percent.

The Wolf of Wall Street was good, while Leonardo DiCaprio and Jonah Hill were great in their roles. It was more about the debauchery and not about how he ripped people off.

In the Cucina With Seamas

While it's not exactly like the recipe, it was delicious. I'm proud that I was efficient as I made it.

First I turned my oven on, and set the temperature to 450 degrees to soften the ciabatta bread. Next time I use this trick, I wont tuck the paper towels under the bread since they stuck to it.

As the oven warmed up, I made the guacamole. The avocados I bought from Trader Joe's this past Wednesday were ripe from being in a paper bag. Once they were done, I got the coffee going then put the loaf of ciabatta in the oven.

Next were the eggs which I made scrambled, when I put them back on the heat I'd check the bread's progress. I got the goat cheese out of the refrigerator, the salsa out of the cupboard, and my plate.

The coffee was done, the bread soft, and the eggs were ready. I was worried about leaving them on the stove top, even with the heat off, so I quickly cut the bread. I spread the guacamole, then the salsa. I was pleasantly surprised that the eggs were still moist as I put them. A dash of goat cheese and I put the plate in the warm oven while I made my coffee.

As I bit into it, I reminded myself to eat slowly and enjoy it. It was tough to do because it was tasty. I should have put the second piece on a small plate in the oven to keep it warm as I ate the first.

I Couldn't Wait Till Sunday

Seeing this breakfast on my friend's tumblr inspired me to make it. I went to Trader Joe's today, bought the avocados, a loaf of ciabatta bread, eggs and goat cheese. Instead of a tomato I'm going to use chipolte salsa. The avocados are ripening in a paper bag, and I'm hoping they'll be ready for Saturday morning.

I'm deciding between scrambled eggs per Gordon Ramsay's method or sunny side up as the recipe calls for. The scrambled eggs can be spread across the guacamole and salsa so all three flavors can blend on each bite.

Don't Mess With My Coffee

While sitting at my computer this morning, with my fourth cup of coffee, I kept hearing this odd hissing noise. At first I thought it was my radiator because I closed the valve, but as I stood next to it, the sound came from the kitchen.

My neighbor and I share a wall, so I waited to hear if it was them making it. That’s when I heard it coming from my Farberware percolator. Turns out, there was a bit of coffee in the reservoir at the bottom and the ‘keep warm’ temperature was too high for it. As I unplugged it, I hoped the thermostat wasn’t acting up again. The percolator had fixed itself after brewing the coffee weaker.

Prior to making this morning’s batch, I gave my bean grinder a cleaning, because it’s been louder. I thought a bean had gotten stuck under the blades or in the column. After wiping it down, I saw that one blade tip broke off. It still grinds the beans so I shouldn’t have to replace it anytime soon, just a few more seconds holding down the button.

Now I'm concerned with how the percolator will work tomorrow morning.

Patience Is It's Own Reward And Money Is Nice Too

I'm finally eligible for Ad Sense on my blogger. I filled out the application and await their reply. If I'm expecting to earn a decent amount of money, then I'll need to write more.