Testing out the Netbook

My parents got me a sweet new Netbook for Christmas. I have a 14 day trial period to see if I like it before the store will no longer return it. I think this is the only waranty you get with a Netbook...so I'm testing out everything I can.

Here is my test of blogging that I will be trying to do while I am Denmark. Let's see if this works





eyyy das is good!! experiments continue. Next up: skype.

The Best and Beautiful Homemade Breakfast Bagel

So since my sister actually tried out the recipe I posted (see the Pizza Chicken post a few weeks back) I thought I should put another one up. Hopefully someone else will try it out.

Also, as I was making this delicious fried-egg creation, my housemate asked me "yoo how do you make that?". Assuming he was referring to the way I got the cheese to melt perfectly in between the fried egg and the slice of ham, I started to explain the technique I have developed. He stopped me short, however, and said "no, like, how do you make the fried eggs, I only know how to make scrambled." O. So I guess this may be more useful than I thought.

Fried Egg Bagel With Ham And Cheese

- Get yourself some tasty bagels. The more like The Great Canadian Bagel they are, the better. Its worth the extra dollar, they have a completely different taste. As E-Gams put it, "Its All In the Bread". I would recommend 'Cheddar and Herb' or 'Everything' bagels; something with a little savoury flavour. This won't work on cinamon raison, chocolate chip, or any sugary bagels. Plain are fine, but won't be quite as good.

(I'm trying to be as thorough as I can here)

- Start heating up a pan at about 6 heat. Put a half-teaspoon of butter on the pan for a little coating and to be able to see when the pan is getting hot.

- Put the bagel in the toaster.

- Once the butter starts to melt, spread it around the pan. Turn the heat up, not more than 7. Crack your egg into the middle of the pan.

- Slice your cheese (heh heh heh). I would recommend real cheese; its healthier and it'll turn out better than processed. You won't have the same gooey consistency as McDic's gets with their Egg McMuffins, but maybe thats a good thing. It'll be more flavorful anyways.

- Get out your blackforest ham. This should be coldcuts, it works surprisingly well. Could also work with bacon or other types of coldcut meats, but for perfection I would go for the coldcut ham. Trust. Put the ham on the pan beside the egg to start heating it up and getting it a little crispy. Flip it every so often.

- Keep an eye on the egg. Its nice if the yolk is just a little bit soft, a dark yellow, when its all done. So once the egg white is solidified and opaque white, you can flip the egg. Perfect time to flip is when it looks white and ready to eat, but there's still a slimy liquid layer on the top. Kinda like at a cheap diner where they didn't finish cooking your sunnyside up. By flipping it you take care of that sliminess. Careful of this flip; its make-or-break time and you don't want to break that yolk. Practice makes perfect.

- Salt and Pepper your egg.

- Put the few slices of cheese you have on the back of the egg SO ITS NOT TOUCHING THE PAN, ONLY THE BACK OF THE EGG. This is a cool trick and makes your clean up way easier. The cheese will begin to melt from the surrounding heat.

- Get to your bagel that probably popped a while ago. Butter it, but not too much, or the entire thing will be too greesy.

- Put the fried ham on top of the cheese and the egg. The layers will then be: pan, egg, cheese, then ham. The ham will cover the cheese that is on the egg. I hope that's clear. Now flip the entire trio so the ham now rests against the pan. The order will now be reversed: pan, ham, cheese, egg. This will allow the cheese to melt to perfection, without getting fried cheese on your pan. Done right, you may get the slightest feeling of how clever you really are.

- After letting the cheese melt for under a minute, put the whole concotion on your bagel, slice in half and your ready to enjoy goodness.

As the Rickard's commercial bartendar may say: Take the best day of your life and put it in your mouth.

Enjoy with orange juice.

Recommendations:
-Slice tomato and put it on the bagel. It freshens everthing up when it can feel a little too overwhelming and a little greesy with the melted cheese and fried ham.
- Don't like tomatos? Try dipping in ketchup as you eat. Not for everyone, but can be good.
- Like it hot? put a little hot sauce on the bagel after you've buttered it. Will ceep into your bread and add a little kick. You can also just dip and eat if you like it a little more spicy.

:)

Pilfering, Pinching, Swiping, Stealing: The New Student Experience

Students entering first-year at Universities across Ontario, including Western, Guelph, Laurier, and Waterloo, are met with a welcome surprise: they will now be able to steal media at exceptionally fast speeds from DC++. Movies, music, software, documents - all download in under a minute. You can even download the entire P90X workout series for free, as advertised on TV infomercials for the usual convenient price of 3 monthly installments of $39.99 + $19.99 S&H. To many first-year students, this is the equivalent of the best candy-store on earth, compressed into one deliciously accessible internet candy shop that they can sneak as much as they want from without getting caught. The system works by peer-to-peer file sharing over the completely secure university networks, available to students in residences only. Basically a restricted, protected Limewire on speed, since instead of sharing files over the worldwide web, students are downloading from their friends down the hallway on a closed network. Awesome, money-saving, novel, useful....but stealing?

I have never spent much time second-guessing DC++. To me, it is students sharing their personal libraries (some students have over 2 terabytes of library) with their peers. But this year, I have been more than overwhelmed with the pinching swiping stealing pilfering plundering that has infected this university. I am not talking about a few unlucky instances that happened to a few friends of mine. I am talking about a greed that is rampantly spreading to become some sort of absurd adiction. Some examples:

- My bike this year. At noon from the middle of the university, concrete beach. Upon reporting to police, he said I was the 6th person reporting a stolen bike in his shift alone, that day. He suspected more reported to his partner.
- Elyna's umbrella. In lecture, umbrella was set beside her. Next she looked, it was gone. She walked home in the rain.
- Kelsci's textbook. From the library, takes a moment of relief and upon her return, her textbook has been pilfered. $120+ to replace, and exam the next day.
- Clara's purse from Jim Bob's. They found her coat check ticket in her wallet, checked out her coat, and took that too.
- My back pack and jeans from gym locker. Valuables stowed away behind a lock, I left my bag, with 2 library books, and a notebook unlocked. They took the backpack and my jeans, leaving my sweater and jacket. The jeans were from Winners - I spent the evening at the library in bright blue WOSS gym shorts.
- Shelbonn's house. Kicked in the backdoor, pilfered.
- Laptop at King's party on St. Patty's day.
- Dan's laptop charger from the lib.
- Alex's legit coat from the Frog.
- Cologne from our washroom during party.
...to name a few off the top of my head.

Although many of these robberies have clearly affected me, thus demonstrating the inspiration for this post, I think this constitutes more than just "occasional events". Theft is now a reality at UWO that has students anxiously packing up their books to go the washroom, stowing their valuables in their homes, and keeping an eye on their umbrellas during class.

I don't blame this on the normalisation of media-theft through programs like DC++. I don't think students steal because they watch a pirated DVD they bought for 2 bucks in China town. But the availibility and normalization of free media certainly engenders a passive acceptance to unethical taking. And this overwhelming theivery, causing students to watch their backs as if they were tourists in a market place, is evidently a symptom, possibliy of this overwhelming passitivity and politness.

If someone had actively stepped out and asked that person why they were taking that textbook "that i'm sure that girl was using", perhaps that theft would have been avoided. If people actually said no, I would not like to buy that ipod/laptop/charger/coat/cologne that you "found", then perhaps the motivation to steal would begin to dissipate.

I am not saying that stealing would end if people were a little more ethically confrontational. I am saying I may be able to feel like I'm living in comfortable Canada again, where we can trust our coat on a hook rather than stashed behind a guarded counter, or bring an umbrella to class, and expect to use it on the walk home. But maybe this just isn't the UWO experience.

Creative Monetization Fails Once Again

Thanks to all those who have come to my blog and clicked on my ads to try to make this whole "make some easy money off of your blog" thing work. Unfortunately, the great people over at Google are smarter than you'd think, or at least more snoopy, and have determined that my methods of acheiving clicks have not been legitamate. And so advertisers have been reimbursed their money and I am out $50. O well, it has been fun.

I assume they found me out from my high ratio of clicks to impressions. You see, according to this ratio, I was up over $130 for every 1000 site impressions I got. To put that into context, on the example at the Google Adsense sight, they say it could be around $6. I guess a $124 difference raises an eyebrow here and there.

I'm also thinking it could be more than this ratio. I think they could actually track every click I get. They give you one chance and one chance only to appeal their decision, and one of the questions they ask in this appeal is where you feel that you are getting page impressions from. I guess page impressions from Europe, California, B.C. and Australia looks alot less sketchy than an abnormally strict concentration in only Southern Ontario. Or it could be the fact that I haven't updated my blog in a week and a half; a guy making $50 after only about 8 wall posts must be a pretty well written dude.

I wonder if I'm blacklisted for life or if another computer with a different IP address will get me another account. Or if I use my home address instead of my school address. Or my dad's name on the account. In the end, I sort of feel like Big Brother Google will use their Ministry of Truth to find me out. Gotta keep a look out for those web-telescreen-cams.

So, attempting to make money off of creative writing, or Monetizing it as the Google marketers have so aptly put it, has been unsuccessful once again. I'll still write, its something I've always enjoyed, and if there is a way around the man, you will be sure to know.

(O, and why the crazy pictures? The first one cause its St. Patty's Day, and the rest cause they're sweet. Kudos to the Dali-esque Russian Surrealist artist Vladimir Kush and http://www.mymodernmet.com/profiles/blog/show?id=2100445%3ABlogPost%3A30343 for posting em)

Red Hot Chili Peppers

Back at the end of January, the rock world started buzzing about John Frusciante - the iconic guitarist of the Red Hot Chili Peppers - and his decision to leave the band for the second time in his career. John had been alluding in interviews that the Chili Peppers may not be in his future for months, and he had posted on his personal website that he had left the band over a year ago. But the band itself has always maintained that John remained in the band, so the Chili Peppers' wide fan base had so far been left unanswered.

On January29th the band finally set some certainty to the matter, revealing their new look at the MusicCares person of the year dinner in Los Angeles. The band played long-time friend John Klinghoffer in Frusciante's stead, rocking out to a cover of a Neil Young tune, "Man Needs a Maid". The only video of the performance, it appears, is pretty bad, but can be found at http://bit.ly/bwXCmu.

In my opinion, the band will have their work cut out without John Frusciante. The albums he's been a part of, Blood Sugar Sex Magik, Californication, By The Way, and Stadium Arcadium, are those that now define the band. Worldwide recognized hits like Under the Bridge, Around the World, and Can't Stop come under his artistic input and his rough, funk influence. Frusciante is a major part of what has made the Red Hot Chili Peppers different from the Coldplays and the Nickelbacks in the calm rock scene; his funk has brought the Chili Peppers incredible fame.

Frusciante is not a "smooth around the edges" guitarist; he plays a melodic but scratchy sound that has become the sound of the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Not only is the vibe unique, but it complements Anthony Kiedis' relatively untrained singing in a jarring, distinctive affinity that has made them a top rock band for over 20 years. Only a truly wicked guitarist can replace this harmony.

So in steps in "John Take 2", Mr. Klinghoffer. A great resume, has played with Gnarls Barkley, has toured with the Chili Peppers, has even played on stage with Frusciante at one point. He is amigos with the boys already, so he slides nicely in, so the band is nicely set to record their 10th studio album, the highly anticipated follow-up to Stadium Arcadium.

But will it be the Chili Peppers? How many of you know the album One Hot Minute? That album was supposed to be the electrifying follow-up to Californication. Except it was a dud. Why? John Frusciante had quit the band, to be replaced by good friend, Dave Navarro. Sound familiar? The tracks were okay, though turned out strange hits like "Aeroplane", and it wasn't till Frusciante's return for By The Way that the band really sounded like themselves again.

I don't want to be too prejudice to Klinghoffer. I would like to give him a chance. But if you watch a practice session with him and the band playing "Snow" at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l8Y7xFNFTRI, you may start to realize what i'm talking about. He's stiff. He's cemented to his spot. He lifelessly plays the riff again and again as if he's spent all night memorising it and he's trying not to mess up. The scratchy, dirty feel of Frusciante is lost, and instead it feels cut and dry; just what its supposed to be and nothing more.

If you skip to the end of the song you get a taste of his improvisational technique, and technique is all it really is. Stays within the confines of the chord, finishes of the song, and pretends its more than what he has been composing for his big solo moment. Compare this to Frusciante, please do, playing Don't Forget Me live, http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=djkEHxypctU, and you get a little bit of a sense of what i'm talking about. Did Frusciante write that before going on stage? Could that ever actually be written down? Art, especially the Art the Chili Peppers have created, is not polished, is not perfect, it is energized unfinished sublime beauty. I just don't see the sublime in Klinghoffer.

3.56, or 3 Free Chocolate Bars

How many times have you walked by a penny on the ground? Or a nickel? A Quarter? I see it everyday, and in my mind, maybe its because I'm dutch, but its a little bit stupid. So much of what we do is aboout saving money, about saving every little penny. Iif you are at the grocery store and one loaf of bread is $2.33 and another completely comparable loaf is 5o cents off at $1.80, you're gonna go for the cheaper one, without a doubt. You go to a vending machine, and one is selling cans of coke for $1, but that discount brand is $0.50, you go for the discount nearly every time.

But that 50 cents is in that quarter you walked by the other day, and those 2 dimes and a nickel you saw on your way home. If you think of that spare change, those pennies, and quarters and nickels and dimes, you realize you probably dropped by at least one penny a day, and usually much more. If you had actually picked up that penny, one a day for a whole year, you'd end up with $3.56, or, as I like to see it, 3 free chocolate bars. Now if someone gave you 3 free chocolate bars, free of charge, no obligation whatsoever, you would take it, of course you would. But this is a bare minimum; what happens if one day instead of a penny, you picked up a dime, or a quarter? All of a sudden this $3.56 turns into $5. Now add in that change in your pocket you actually collect this time instead of having no idea what to do with it and your up in the $20 range.

Don't believe me? I did it, I picked up change, as much as I could, in my grade 12 year. I was in high school, so their was always change left on the floor of the caf or in the hallways; change I picked up and put into a piggy bank. I recently took the time to roll this coinage, while I watched TV so it wasn't like i was putting any extra time towards it. I ended up with $38. $38 from one year of coinage. I was surprised.

Now I didnt buy 38 chocolate bars, as it may look like i'm suggesting. I actually gave the $38 to charity. People, at least those who are frugal like me, are always wondering about charitable giving: often they would like to give but they don't know how much they should give or how much they can afford. My advice? Pick up the change, roll the change, and hopefully you can make some change. Give it a try, all it takes is stooping once a day, pickin up that lucky penny, and maybe you can make a difference.

Climbing Cotopaxi, 5987m - Ecuador

3 Pictures from climbing Cotopaxi, the iconic snowcapped volcano that overlooks Quito. They have some "world's greatest" statement, like "The world's highest snowcapped volcano" or something - whatever it is, it was the greatest challenge I have ever taken on. We reached the peak after climbing straight up a glacier for 6 1/2 hours; i was shaky, my vision was blurred, i felt sick, I was stumbling, i was turning back, it was horrible. But we made it, we made it, and the sublime feeling was bliss.

A favourite picture of mine. Looking down at the clouds, its as if you are in an airplane looking out at the rolling white fluffy plains stretching out before you. But here in this picture, the plains are obscured by the mountain we are climbing cutting across the foreground; we ended up somehow above the sky but with our feet still on the ground.

This is the shadow of Cotopaxi on top of the cloud cover as the sun rose. That shadow must have stretched for hundreds and hundreds of miles, its peak jus sort of disappearing at the horizon. Not sure if that white dot to the left is the moon...probably a UFO sighting.