RSS Feed

Category Archives: Spare Bits

Other stuff.

Time Betrays Us

As you may know if you’ve been reading this blog for very long, I moved to a new team in a situation that was not entirely of my own choosing. The new team has no one I know on it, to start with. The projects they deal with are internal, whereas I’m used to backend systems that have an external impact (as well as internal). Nothing will scale beyond maybe ten thousand users, whereas I’m used to services that have to withstand millions of hits in a day worldwide.

I’m used to services that, by necessity, have a pager attached.

It’s weird not to have one.

My new team is also pretty isolated from the rest of the company. In fact, my team is pretty isolated, period, and that makes me sad. I know they brought me in to bring that sort of experience, but the process so far is lonely.

There is no reason I should have already started to drift away from my old team. Maybe after a couple months, but not a couple weeks! And yet in less than that, when I hung out with the old team on Friday night for boardgames, I had that disconnected feeling. Suddenly what was familiar and comfortable was no longer familiar.

New associations are displacing old ones, and it’s happening so fast that it depresses me, frankly.

The team (the new team) is still in its forming/norming stage. I suppose it will take a few months before we get to storming and performing.

I miss my old team. It tears me up inside.

On the up side, I’ve been cooking all weekend, which I haven’t done in a while. It’s difficult to work up an excuse to cook when you know you might be interrupted by a high-severity issue when your hands are in the chicken.

May Things Be Alright May Things Be Alright

S∂ Restoration Project Continues

I’ve resurrected and modified the following pages (and related posts, where I could find them):

  • The Lonely Gamer with an index of CGI scripts usable for the D&D Adventure Game System, Pocket Battles, and Summoner Wars.
  • Tea Reviews.

I am contemplating setting up a separate Sherlock Holmes site once more. Until then, here’s my Sherlock Holmes page.

Neatness of the Week: What Every Woman Must Not Say

This is a poem written by Alice Duer Miller, who was awesome. I hope she’s looking at us from the directional choice of her afterlife and writing more poems.

There’s one poem that stands out to me amongst all the awesome ones here:

What Every Woman Must Not Say

“I don’t pretend I’m clever,” he remarked, “or very wise,”
And at this she murmured, “Really,” with the right polite surprise.

“But women,” he continued, “I must own I understand;
Women are a contradiction—honorable and underhand—

Constant as the star Polaris, yet as changeable as Fate,
Always flying what they long for, always seeking what they hate.”

“Don’t you think,” began the lady, but he cut her short: “I see
That you take it personally—women always do,” said he.

“You will pardon me for saying every woman is the same,
Always greedy for approval, always sensitive to blame;

Sweet and passionate are women; weak in mind, though strong in soul;
Even you admit, I fancy, that they have no self-control?”

“No, I don’t admit they haven’t,” said the patient lady then,
“Or they could not sit and listen to the nonsense talked by men.”

There are a lot of guys out there who still say this type of thing.

Fake Nog with the SoyaJoy

Fake Nog with the SoyaJoy

So I got a SoyaJoy soy milk maker, and despite the name, it can do quite a few other milks as well, including blends (I’m told I should try a blend of black soy beans, rice, and sesame seeds for a chocolate milk style experience).

So while the first batch of soybeans was soaking, I decided to try out the maker on some sweet rice ((Though it’s also called glutinous rice, it doesn’t contain gluten.)) I had.

The result was a thick blend, even after straining. But I realized this was the perfect stand-in for the base of eggnog—rich and cloying, but without the raw egg bit, which always freaked me out about eggnog. All it needed was spices.

After it came piping hot from the maker, and strained, I added

  • cinnamon stick (I only had one, I would have added three if I could)
  • cinnamon, ground (due to lack of sticks)
  • allspice berries, ~30
  • Tahitian vanilla, 1 Tbsp
  • Sugar, 2/3 cup (you can cut this down in half if you like a less sweet nog)

And let it sit until it cooled a bit. Then I sampled some. And was quite deliriously happy for a while.

After it cooled down, I put it in one of these neat Lock & Lock pitchers and chilled it in the fridge. Then sampled about an hour later. Also deliriously happy.

Now I need to finish this small sample I poured out for this picture. Woe is me. Totally.

By the way, the batch of soy milk I made is leagues better than the crap they sell in the store. Even plain. There’s not even much of a “beany” taste, and oh my gods so much awesome. On so few beans too (3/4 of a cup), so it’ll even save me money in the long term.

Drives Me Crazy Not to Post Stuff

Drives Me Crazy Not to Post Stuff

It’s the mania talking. But… here’s a hint to an idea I’ve been having.

I need some kind of schedule, but one not too taxing during the middle of the week. So I may fall back to other shows, or other topics entirely (like tea and board games).

Or not. I don’t know. At least I’ve picked up the Sherlock Holmes Redux again.

Mania, it talks and talks and talks and talks and….

GF DF OF Healing Strawberry-Quinoa Shakes

GF DF OF Healing Strawberry-Quinoa Shakes

I’m getting addicted to these. Strawberries and quinoa may seem an odd combination, but for some reason the nutty taste of quinoa goes well with the sweet tang of strawberries. Plus I’m using quinoa flakes, which turn into a quick hot breakfast cereal amazingly well; and since this recipe is based on the Strawberry Oatmeal Breakfast Smoothie, works quite well as an oatmeal replacement if you’re allergic to oats.

This recipe also has no bananas. If you want to use a banana, halve the quinoa flakes and non-dairy milk. Add sweeteners and whatnot if you like; I use pre-sweetened vanilla almond milk so I don’t use any extra sugar or vanilla.

Servings: 2
Ingredients:
1/2 cup of quinoa flakes
2 cups of non-dairy milk
14 frozen strawberries

Directions:

  1. Put quinoa flakes into a dry blender ((Screw normal blenders. Ninja Blender is where it’s at: easy to clean, easy to deal with. BPA-free, surprisingly. Blades are… sharp. STORE INSIDE THE BLENDER, OMG.)) and grind. They won’t turn into the finest of powder, since they’re quite small, but it makes a difference.

  2. Pour in milk, and put in strawberries. Blend.

  3. Pour out into tall glasses and add straw.

Now, if only it weren’t so chilly in the Pacific Northwest right now….

Zen in Bed

20110707-011309.jpg

My Little Pony: CELLO, EVERYPONY, CELLO

Once upon a time I wrote a story and a partial serial about a down-on-his-luck cello player with a habit of swearing quite a bit, and unwilling partner to an egotistical violinist with a Sherlock Holmes… fetish, I think it is. They even did a review together. I’m too embarrassed honestly by it all.

I’ve never stopped trying to make it better, and failing quite a lot. It’s the story of my writing life, and why I’ll never make it as a fiction writer. My non-fiction tends to be much better anyways, and I even rely on what I learned about story structure in some of it.

Anyways: Octavia from “The Best Night Ever” being badass. Cellos are badass. They are Khorovod-levels of badassness.

Not A Wolver

20110525-011237.jpg

Follow

Get every new post delivered to your Inbox.