Awesome is this word people really like to use…
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A Very Maker Christmas
We’ve been busy in the days leading up to Christmas, and the elves (kids) spent a lot of time in the “2XL Makerspace” and with my help we hand-crafted a number of ornaments. In the true tradition of making gifts rather than buying them, we had a blast…
I made good use of the tools that belonged to my Dad, and a box of scrap wood my brother gave me (along with my own scrap wood, which I’ve probably moved with me for the last 5 years/4 houses.)
I can see this becoming a tradition… spending time with the kids making things in the weeks leading up to the Holidays…
File Under: Awesome.
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Roasted Garlic Asiago Dip
Ingredients
- 1 head garlic
- 16 ounces cream cheese
- 2 cups shredded asiago cheese
- 1/3 cup heavy cream
- 1/2 cup sour cream
- 1/2 cup mozzarella cheese, shredded
Directions
- Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
- Cut the garlic head in half along the “equator” (with root and stem ends representing the poles).
- Place the garlic, cut side down on a foil lined baking sheet and roast uncovered 40 to 45 minutes or until tender. (This is the hardest part!)
- To remove the garlic, turn heads upside down and gently squeeze the garlic out of the skins.
- Reduce oven temperature to 350 degrees F.
- With a food processor or electric mixer, blend cream cheese, Asiago cheese, heavy cream, and sour cream until well-blended, add garlic and blend again.
- Place mixture into a casserole or baking dish and top with shredded mozzarella.
- Bake about 20 minutes until golden brown on top.
- Serve with firm crusty bread, crackers, pita bread, or whatever.
I’m expected to make this every Thanksgiving, and now the family wants it on Christmas as well. I’m pretty sure it’s the only reason I get invited… Anyway, here’s the recipe, so now you can make it yourself and I don’t even have to show up!
But seriously folks, after it shows up, this stuff is gone in like 10 minutes, and people who miss out on it are sad and have even been known to cry. So don’t ruin the day, make your own Roasted Garlic Asiago Dip and be the Hero of the Holidays!
(Sorry I couldn’t get a photo of the final product, but I needed to get this published to fulfill some promises… Enjoy!)
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iPod Review – Five Years Later
I got an iPod for Christmas in 2005. I’m going to review it now. Wait, 2005… Is that a typo!? No…
I’m still using the first iPod I ever got. My wife gave me the 5th generation 30GB iPod with video. And yes, I did review this iPod back in 2007. So what? I’m reviewing it again.
I love this iPod. I have not felt the urge to upgrade or replace it. It works as well as it did 5 years ago when I got it. The interface is simple and easy to use. It does one thing, and it does it well.
I use this iPod almost every day. At least, every day I drive. I’d guess that 98% of its usage is in my car as an audio player connected to my car stereo. I have no desire to get an iPod touch, as I actually think the interface would be much more difficult to use while driving. In my previous review I did mention something about this:
The iPod interface also requires you to look, or at least be able to feel around and guess where to push. Other players (with actual buttons) allow you to memorize where the buttons are and what they do. I could operate my Rio while driving and never take my eyes off the road. This seems to be a big concern with the iPhone as well, it will require visual attention to be able to use it.
Maybe it’s because I’ve been using the old iPod interface for so long, but I feel much more at ease using it to navigate for music playing than I do for my iPhone. It’s all spin and click, no typing or swiping.
I still on occasion have an issue with the iPod not turning off, but it happens seldom enough that it’s not really a bother. Battery life also seems a bit shorter than it used to be, but hey, it is 5 years old and has been used a lot. The battery does hold a charge, so that’s good. The only really bothersome thing is that at some point it got confused and started showing the wrong artwork for some of the files on it. So I’ll be listening to Sleep and it shows album cover art for Cat Power. I’ve gotten used to it. A restore might fix that, but I’ve never had the energy to do one.
I don’t need apps, or wifi, or a camera, or anything except a music player, so as long as it holds out, I’ll keep using the 5th generation 30GB iPod for my automotive audio needs.
(And yes, I do realize that by posting the sentence above, it will somehow cease to function within a matter of weeks. I’ll let you know when that happens.)
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The Business Journal…Unread!
I followed a link to a Business Journal article and when I saw a little red circle at the bottom with a number in it, I thought “Hey, I have some unrea…. Wait-A-Minute!!!”
Did you think the same thing? Many of us have been conditioned by Mac OS X, iOS, Facebook, and other applications/interfaces to instinctively click on any icon with a red circle and a number it in. Those of us who are obsessive will click on these things for just one reason, to make them go away.
Whenever my wife would log into Facebook I’d yell “You have messages, click on the red thing!” so much she banned me from looking at her screen until I stopped. She never clicked on it, and didn’t care about, and I eventually came to accept that.
Hey Business Journal, you almost got me. I almost clicked on it… but I didn’t.
So for those of you in the web design, marketing, advertising, publishing, and UI/UX worlds… Is this clever as heck, or deceptive as hell. (Or both!?)