I am very surprised how slow today is going.

Posting is sparse today! It's making it really hard for me to procrastinate!

Okay! Here I am generating content.

Cooking Tips I've Recently Learned:

1) After watching Jacques Pepin make a Proper French Omelet on YouTube I am now all about making French-ish scrambled eggs. Which involves working the egg in the pain constantly so that it breaks up into smaller curds which gives it a much lighter and creamier consistency.

2) Also, I can't emphasize enough that having the right size pan makes a huge difference when making eggs. This has to do with how quickly eggs cook in the pan so you need a certain size relative to the number of eggs you have going. Obvious I guess but that lightbulb only went off over my head in the last year.

3) Fresh thyme is great in eggs!

4) Sorry ita for all the egg talk.

5) Another obvious thing I've sorted out recently with my cooking is that while garlic is a strong flavor, it's also really delicate. I'm now putting my finely minced garlic in later in my cooking so I don't cook off all those volatile oils. Previously I'd been putting in the garlic to flavor the oil. I'm getting much more garlic flavor now that I'm adding it later.

6) Those little Stuffin' Muffin savory bread pudding things I made were really good.

7) I'm getting into using ginger in my cocktails. I like ginger. (And, I like Ginger.)

8) Baseball: Yikes, the Red Sox got both Adrian Gonzalez and Carl Crawford. While the Yankees got stuck paying overpaying for Jeter. If the Yanks don't get Cliff Lee they're fucked next year.

9) TV - we're going to be talking to Jen K. and her beau about how they watch the TV shows without cable costs. Roku? Apple TV? Torrents of TV? I think the cable monopoly is crumbling and the long predicted merger of TV and internet is happening before our eyes.

10) I get a happy feeling thinking about the good work smonster and shir are doing in the world.

11) Tep, you need to come visit SF again.

12) Mortality has been much on my mind lately. My mom died around Thanksgiving, and then the recent news about my first girlfriend Julia's death. Also, one of the coach's I knew in Little League committed suicide. There's just that very weird, irreconcilable feeling that comes with death: they were here. Now they are not. How does that work? My first lover's body is not in the world anymore. Time and mortality are blank walls of mystery to me right now.

(oatmeal, REPRESENT!)

I just found gluten free oatmeal. How is that even possible? I haven't made a bowl of it yet but am anxious to find out if I get the same super negative experience as I do with glutenful oats. It never really occurred to me, but despite how much I like oatmeal as a food stuff, it has always given me straight up hell. Massive acid, low digestibility, burping, etc.

I guess I assumed everyone responded to oats that way.

I've just had the tech support guy for a company call in and say "OK, we're installing a new server, I've done this and this and this, and now we need this." And the first thing I had to say was "OK, undo this, this, and this, do this instead, then do this." Always fun to tell someone to undo a couple of hours of work when they think they've been efficient.

the long predicted merger of TV and internet is happening before our eyes.

Woe is me.

I haven't owned a television since 1997...I've always been pretty addicted. Now? Doesn't help a whit.

Still, watching when I want, what I want, avoiding at least some of the adverts and being able to spend less time through fast-forwarding, make it somewhat better, I suppose.

10) I get a happy feeling thinking about the good work smonster and shir are doing in the world.

Dawww. Thanks.

On a semi-related note, just found out that the guy in NOLA I'd met with who works for my org... now longer works with my org. Trying to find out whose decision it was.

1) After watching Jacques Pepin make a Proper French Omelet on YouTube I am now all about making French-ish scrambled eggs. Which involves working the egg in the pain constantly so that it breaks up into smaller curds which gives it a much lighter and creamier consistency.

I totally need to go look that up. I adore good, creamy eggs and Jacques Pepin, so this combo is of the win!

3) Fresh thyme is great in eggs!

Have not tried this, but the flavors seem like they'd be good together.Must do this.

Previously I'd been putting in the garlic to flavor the oil. I'm getting much more garlic flavor now that I'm adding it later.

I also must do this. I love garlic and the flavor doesn't seem strong enough for me a lot of the time. Will try adding it later.

TV - we're going to be talking to Jen K. and her beau about how they watch the TV shows without cable costs.

I am curious about this,too. I've been thinking about ditching cable, but have some issues:

1) I love teevee. C'mon, I'm here, aren't I?

2) I love watching it on my couch in comfort.

3) I adore my DVR. Of course, being able to pull up what I want on the internets is just as good.

4) What if what I want isn't available on the internets?? I've never ahemed before. I suppose I can learn.

6) Those little Stuffin' Muffin savory bread pudding things I made were really good.

Do you have a recipe for these?

10) I get a happy feeling thinking about the good work smonster and shir are doing in the world.

Seconded!

I need to start getting ready to meet the kids I am supposed to be babysitting for tonight. Some please don't let them hate me ~ma, would not go to waste.

the long predicted merger of TV and internet is happening before our eyes.

I don't know. The technology is certainly there, and I think it's possible get your TV via Internet for the most part. But I'm not sure the infrastructure is there for mass adoption. If Netflix streaming is account for 17% of bandwidth usage already, that doesn't bode well.

2) I love watching it on my couch in comfort.

There are many ways to deal with that. One of our "TV"s is actually a computer monitor, and the other one may be an actual TV, but it's being used as a computer monitor. Computers take care of recording and playing media.