I read that the Minnewaska State Park is on fire over at Paul’s blog this morning. I had already planned on going up to Stone Ridge again today to do a little food shopping, so I thought I would grab a photo. Things really didn’t look too bad…I guess most of it’s out. There was another place to get a better shot, but we already had some that were ok.
From what I read, the fire has already burned 2,300 acres.
I would say it’s about 75 degrees right now. It’s good if you don’t move. I haven’t sweat yet this season, but then again, I haven’t done anything.
The trees are right on the cusp of exploding. Things are starting to flower and the leaves are all just unwinding from their buds. I would say within a week we will start seeing some real action.
Down in Westchester, everything is out…flowering trees I mean. The Magnolias are out in full force. The Crabapples and the rest are filling the air with fresh pollen…mmmm, you can smell it.
Many bulbs are up and in bloom. What you are seeing here with the Daffodils are just the early risers. The Iris is coming up too, but they bloom later on. Also, just the leaves of the Tulips are showing. It’s pretty fun to watch the whole process. I actually live for it.
I looked over to my right today and noticed Flipper Human over in the shelf sunnin’ his buns.
Really, he was trying to get comfortable, but he did stay in this position for an extended period of time, which leads me to believe the buns theory. Either way, his buns are now nice and golden.
I think it’s actually after shave. I don’t shave with a blade, so it doesn’t go on my face. I think cologne and after shave are the same thing anyway. They smell the same.
Well, it’s official. I finished my first bottle of cologne…in my life. I think Laura got this for me a few years ago. I have been working on it every day. Am I the first male on the globe to actually finish a bottle of cologne? I think the tradition is to just keep getting them for birthdays and holidays, but I’m not sure what happens after that.
I fell in love with Aspen a long time ago while in my teenage years. It’s one of those colognes that you can pick up in Rite Aid for a few bucks. It has a nice smell. Now, onto my bottle of Cool Water. Oh, how cool it will be.
Laura and I were down in Tuckahoe, NY last night and decided to visit “The Olde Stone Mill” restaurant. The reason I had interest in this restaurant is because we saw it during the last season of Kitchen Nightmares with Gordon Ramsey. This is one of our favorite reality shows because it shows different types of leadership and gives me many ideas for great recipes. Gordon isn’t much of a vegetarian lover, but perhaps someone will guide him to see the light one of these days. I suppose many good chefs have meat on their menus. Oh well. Nonetheless, he is quite entertaining.
We basically drove by and stopped so Laura could grab a photo. This restaurant is in a really great part of town and looks very nice. I am not sure it was open when we drove by, but I’m glad the lights were on. It was kind of late at night.
Earlier in the evening, on our way down to Westchester, we hit a lot of traffic on the Hutch so we had to trust my new and awesome best friend…my GPS to guide us through the neighborhoods of Bronxville, Scarsdale and Tuckahoe. I have to say, I fell in love. What a damn nice area. The culture of hardworking people with money is soooo different than those…well, let’s just say their hard work is paying off. I really enjoyed driving through those roads and looking at the pride people take in their properties. A lot of labor and elbow grease can give great results. There were beautiful houses with great landscaping. I should’ve taken more photos for ideas. Maybe we will go back.
One area I really loved was Weaver Street in Scarsdale. It’s pretty “in there” and I would definitely need my GPS again to find it, but what an area. We also went to Eastchester, so we saw a lot.
Boy, what a past couple of days. I have been getting some additional hardware installed on my servers and it has been keeping me very busy with support tickets and phone calls. Let’s just say that once you make the jump to the real deal, things require more attention. There are some clear benefits that I am going to have to implement soon, such as server clustering. I am just laying the groundwork for them now. Let’s just say it’s been a learning experience.
That’s not what this post is about though…that’s just what keeps me up at night. This post is about the 2GB of Kingston RAM I purchased the other day for my desktop.
I have been doing some reading on Windows Vista lately and the common thread is that you need a mainframe to run it. Not really, but you get the picture. The good ol’ days of thinking you were king with 2GB of RAM are over. Now, 4GB is more like the norm.
Since my machine came with 2GB already installed and 4 slots to put RAM in, I decided to get 2 more. I got them from Circuit City and popped them in. I started the computer up and really didn’t notice all that much of a difference. Some things are faster and some things (like Outlook) were much faster. Outlook now flies for some reason. The RAM I got is the Kingston 1GB, DDR2, PC2-5300, 667MHz. This RAM is backwards compatible with the 533MHz already installed. After I restarted the computer again, things seemed to pick up some so now the computer runs more like my old XP machine did.
Ok, I will admit it, the writer’s strike forced me into a torrid affair with reality TV. Actually, Laura started it and I just joined along. I think the only real show we watch is Lost.
My favorites in the reality sector are “Rock of Love with Bret Michaels,” “Hell’s Kitchen” and “America’s Next Top Model” to name a few. Laura is all about the last one, not me…suuuure.
Last night was the season finale for Rock of Love. I was so damn excited all day I could hardly stand it. Now, the show is so stupid and I know that. Bret Michaels from Poison is looking for love. That’s understandable. There were some decent looking girls to choose from and there were some busted up looking freaks. Why they let them through the door, I will never know.
The two finalists were Amber and Daisy. Daisy is a nice rocker girl and 25 years old. She had some issues, but I was still on her side 100%. Amber is 37 and has some control problems. It’s like she was everyone on the show’s guardian. She was always having to control everything and was always yelling at everyone. She really pissed me off.
Have I ever told you I never get my way when it comes to stuff like this? I told Laura that I wasn’t going to be able to sleep if he picks Amber. The final moment came and he picked…Amber. Wouldn’t you know it. Is he on crack? I am so upset. I am just wondering what was going through Bret’s head. Bret, if you are reading this, please post a comment.
Next week is the reunion. Daisy gets in a fist fight Springer style. Life is too short to miss stuff like this.
Yup, college educated Jay Gaulard signing off.
Last night, I made some more Collard Greens. Since I was out of garlic, I decided to pick up some of my favorite garlic from the supermarket…elephant garlic.
According to the Wikipedia page, elephant garlic isn’t really a garlic at all. It’s “actually a variant of the species to which the garden leek belongs.” I will tell you this, I do love it. It has a much more mellow flavor than regular garlic and it is so much easier to work with. It is more expensive and less potent, but the flavor is great.
As I was cooking the Collard Greens, I tasted them and told Laura that they weren’t that great this time. She told me about her friend that uses sugar while cooking hers. Oh yeah, I forgot the honey. Here is what I use to make my Collard Greens:
- Olive oil
- Garlic
- White onion
- Mushrooms
- Collard greens
- Spices
- Honey
Use you imagination if you want to make this stuff. For the spices, I use a cracked pepper/sea salt mixture.
I ran out to Circuit City this morning to pick up a new router and wireless card for my desktop computer. We already had a wireless router, but I am afraid that one won’t go the distance in a larger house. Also, I wanted to make my computer wireless like Laura’s and the laptop.
When I got to the store, I browsed through the equipment. I had some stuff in my hand, but then started really looking through everything else. As I understand it, there are a few different speeds and ranges that routers and cards offer. There is the “b” speed that came out first. Then, there is the “g” speed that is now a few years old and a lot faster than the “b.” I thought that was as fast as things got, so that is what I was looking for. After reading boxes for a bit, I realized there is now a “n” speed. This offers 4X the range and 12X the speed of “g.” That’s what I’m talkin’ bout.
I bought the WMP300N Wireless-N PCI Adapter here…
…that came with this massive antenna…
Now, that’s no wimpy little antenna that sticks out of the back of my computer. That sucker sits on top.
The recommended product to go with this card is the WRT300N Wireless-N Broadband Router, which I got too. Now, remember, this router offers 4X the range and 12X the speed of its predecessor. It will also wash your hair in the morning. Here’s a pic…
I hooked everything up and it works well. I like the fact that there is a security feature that stops my neighbors from using my far reaching bandwidth. If you want to connect to my network, you need a long password key. I already set all the computers up with it. I don’t notice any extra speed with my current DSL because I was hardwired into my old router, but once we make the switch to cable, we should see a big jump.
Please write your opinions on this topic, I will try not to argue.
I feel like I am reporting breaking news or something here.
I was on my way down to Lowe’s this afternoon when I happened to notice a very large area of black smoke in the sky in Middletown, NY. I kept looking at it, but it was over the horizon, so I couldn’t see what was causing it. I did my shopping in Lowe’s and pulled out of the parking lot. On the way out, I got these photos:
I thought this couldn’t be a good thing. Anyway, I wanted to see what the heck was causing all that smoke, so I checked it out online at this website. Apparently, Lee’s Quality Tire in New Hampton was on fire. A worker dropped a gasoline soaked rag on a light fixture and the place went up.
