Thoughts in Veeberland

[Originally published March 27, 2006]

So we’re back from California.  Nice trip, but was kindof a blur.  We went to Sea World and Universal, and traipsed around SD for a bit.  Sarah doesn’t want to see another dumpling or Chinese bun for a long time.  We spent much of the trip learning traditional Chinese receipes from my aunt and uncle on my mom’s side.  Apparently the pressure is all on me to carry on the traditions.  How did I, one of the only two ABCs in this family, end up with the job of carrying on the Chinese traditions?!?!!?!  What happened to all my actual Chinese cousins?

Well so I will need to practice a lot.  Just watching my uncle make the buns is amazing.  He’s so quick and fluid, and my aunt roles out the dumpling wrappers with amazing eaze.  It’s just incredible.  I’m completely out of my element, but it’s fun to learn all this.  They only gave me some really rough measurements, so as I get them down, I’ll post them up.  How do you codify “8 scoops of flour”?  Well it’ll be a challenge.  I’ll just have to wait a while until Sarah’s not sick of dough

On a side note, do any of you have those really weird, hyper-realistic dreams?  I was half asleep this morning when I had this sudden panic attack that I had somehow forgotten that I had a calculus final.  I was regretting missing so many calculus classes that I didn’t find out when the final was.  Then I woke up and realized, I’M NOT IN COLLEGE ANYMORE!!!, and I don’t have to take calculus ever again.

[Originally posted 12/16/2005]

Hi Everyone.  I know there aren’t that many people coming to my site, but I figured I put this up here anyway.  I’m getting involved with a project called Librivox.  They have a goal of recording all public domain books.  They’re looking for volunteers.  I’m going to be recording Chapters 17-18 from Treasure Island, and there are a lot of other good books out there as well.  If you want to lend your time and voice talents I’m sure they could use all the help they can get!

[Originally published April 17, 2006]

So we had our semi-annual game night at work on Saturday.  It ran from 9pm to 1am and it seems that we attract a pretty good crowd.  We were able to setup the big projection screen ( 9′ x 12′) outside in the courtyard with StepMania.  We bought a couple of metal dance pads and it was really loud.  Inside the lab there was a group playing DOTA (a Warcraft III map) and we had Guitar Hero running in the lobby.  Eventually we got an X-box hooked up as well.  Looks like we got around 60 people through the lab. read more »

[Originally posted October 8, 2007]

I haven’t posted anything in a long time.  So I can’t think of a whole lot of stuff to talk about right now.  So I’m going to talk about my shaving brush.  This is by far the best way to shave.  You use it to whisk up a good lather and put it on your face.  It lifts your whiskers and exfoliates the skin.  Shaving is a pleasure with this.  I’m also using an almond scented soap for shaving, which just adds to the experience. read more »

[originally posted October 12, 2007]

Sarah and I went to Cafe de Paris last night for dinner. After we saw a show on Food Network on Saturday we really wanted French Fries. The Secret Life of French Fries is a great show. They do a lot of historical information on a number of different foods. Well Sarah’s been wanting good French Fries since then. read more »

[Originally posted October 18, 2007]

So as many of you know already we installed laminate flooring in our aunt’s house a few weeks ago.  I thought I’d give a review of the product we bought and how the process went.

We bought our laminate flooring from Lumber Liquidators .  We bought 34 boxes of the Dream Home Charisma flooring at $1.29 a square foot.   Their website just underwent a massive overhaul, which makes it much easier to figure out what you want to get.  The Charisma line is 7mm thick and looks pretty good.  I was tempted to get the Nirvana v3 line but it was $1.99/sqft.  The v3 comes in three inch wide, individual planks, more like hardwood flooring, so it would take more time to install.  Standard laminate flooring comes in 7-8″ wide planks, where each plank consists of 3 faux strips. It’s easier if you just look at the picture than to describe. read more »

[Originally posted May 15, 2006]

Hey we’ve got a new feature on the site.  As I get time, I’ll put up recipes again.  My old site had a few things scattered about, and people have been asking for them as well.  I’ll do my best to get at least one up a week.  At that rate, I’ll run out of my own creations in about 2 months .  Better get started cooking again.

I started making this about a month ago, and people seem to like it.  So I’ll go ahead and put it up.  It’s not complicated at all, just takes a little patience to mix the rice. read more »

[Originally posted August 7, 2007]

I tried my first bottle of Coke Zero today. Seems to taste pretty good. I think I might actually like it better than Diet Coke.

So what is the difference? The only thing I see is the addition of acesulfame potassium. Seems to be a new artificial zero-calorie sweetener. I couldn’t figure out why Coke Zero tasted better than Diet Coke until I found this article. So it looks like Diet Coke tastes like a calorie free version of New Coke, which was designed to taste like Pepsi. This is what caused the huge public backlash against New Coke to begin with, despite the fact that for most people they choose Pepsi in blind taste tests because of the sweeter taste.

I’ve always liked Classic Coke better, but switched to Diet Coke because I was getting a little round in the middle. When C2 came out I was somewhat excited, but it tasted a little funny since it was just half and half. But Coke Zero is suppose to be a zero-cal version of Classic Coke, and that may very well be why I like it better. It’s not quite as sweet tasting as Diet Coke, and is a little smoother and less after-taste. I’ll have to keep trying to really see, but so far it has caught my fancy.