I’d been meaning for a while now to actually try powdered milk. It isn’t something I’ve ever had before, but it seemed to be a good option for the Tour. And it turns out, it’s pretty good. Taste wise. And it can travel really well, and has all the vitamins and stuff that regular milk has. So that is good news: we’ll have milk on the bus.
Category: Blog
Adventures in Breadland
Nice, I made cornbread and a loaf of wheat bread today. It’s good. My first time baking wheat bread – just as easy as other bread. First time with cornbread too, now that I think of it. It is way tasty, though my lack of an appropriate pan made it bake a little weird. Also, cornbread is even easier than other breads. Seriously, in the time it took the loaf of wheat to rise, I mixed, cooked, and let cool the cornbread.
Cornbread recipe on the side of the cornmeal box. Still tasty.
Wheat Bread recipe via smitten kitchen.
Mmmm…much better
All better. At least with this site. I could give a shit about the rest of them. As long as my home online is a-ok, I’m happy. Was gettin stressed out last night over this stuff, but now that I’ve got one place to keep myself grounded, I’m feelin fine again. Alright.
I thought I had something else to post about. Coulda sworn it. Joe has been pulling this in conversations recently, starting off by saying he had something good to say, but forgot it. I think it’s rubbing off. Bummer. Well, I’ll post something someday.
Jesus Fucking Christ
So that server move is not going smoothly. Every wordpress install I have has problems, and the landshark site has new issues. Best of all, my ISP blocks the ports I need to fix it. So I’ll have to go to the library or something and see if I can get anything done. Troubleshooting in public is not a pretty thing – nerd rage should be kept hidden.
Whoops
So, I’m on a new (physical) server now, with the same great company, but the switched killed my last two posts. It’s ok, they were just boring photo posts.
Anyway, started class today, and I wanted to write them down so I don’t forget them:
Contemporary Native Americans, Cross-Cultural Communication, Studies in Literature & Culture, Hist of Latinos/as in U.S., and Philosophical Foundation of Human Rights.
Also, while I’m at it, last semester’s:
Poetry, The Short Story, Sociology of Gender, The City in Western Tradition, and The History of Urban America.
Everything is Gonna Work Out Fine
Joe emailed me the other day, saying he found the perfect pump for the refinery at NAPA, but it cost nearly $400. After a bit of haggling, he managed to get them down to under $300, but it was still more than we have in the budget. He was back in the shop, telling a friend about the problem, and that friend mentioned that he had a pump very similar to that, which he wasn’t using. So now we have a pump, and we paid him a fraction of what we would have paid otherwise.
Everything always seems to work out. In fact, the very way I met Joe is another example. After I bought the bus, I realized we would need some sponsors to get some extra money to finish the conversion, so I contacted the Hartford Courant to see if they could help me get some exposure. And they did, and an article ran about the bus shortly after. Someone over at FOX 61 noticed the article, and thought it would make a good story, so they contacted me. And soon enough, there was a story about the bus on TV. Shortly after that, I got an email from Joe, offering to help me convert the bus. Serendipity.
Much of my life has been like that. It helps that I’m white, upper middle class and male, but I’m not sure that privilege is always to blame. Much of it seems to be random occurrences, and how we respond to them. I’ve been reading a lot of blogs of people discovering the same thing. Joe introduced me to the packaged and marketed version of this, called The Secret. Apparently Oprah is big on it. Anywise, there seems to be something to the idea, though I’m not sold on the movie/book – that seems stupid.
Cheney Checkup
Ned and I checked in with Joe at Cheney Tech yesterday, and things look good. The heat transfer is built, and the tank is just about done. In the picture above, that large metal box is the tank, and the top is laying on the table. I’ll edit together a video soon.
Windex Fantasy Portal
It sounds like something you want, but you don’t!
Resolutions
I didn’t make any New Year’s resolutions this year. I’ve got a fair sized list of things I’m trying to improve, but I’ve been working on them for a while now, so it seemed stupid to recast them for the New Year. So I’ve thought about it a little more, and I’ve finally decided on a good resolution.
When I was combing through the archives of this site in the move, I noticed one thing that really bugged me: its. I imagine I use the wrong its/it’s out of laziness, but I’m going to try to train myself to use the right one when I’m online (I have a much better track record when speaking). So that’s something to look forward to.
2009: Now With More Grammar!
bus bus bus bus bus bus bus
The Whistle Blower by the McDades
[audio:http://themcdades.com/en/uploads/audio/01_TheWhistleBlower.mp3]
I’m completely bored by talking about the bus. I would love to listen to what other people have to say, or have been dreaming about, but mostly people just ask me about the progress, and my plans. I’m not thinking about any of those things. Not even a little bit. The trip is still very far off, and while there are still things that need to be done, it’s all fairly simple. When something needs to be done, I’ll do it, and then move on.
I’m a little worried that maybe I’ve pigeonholed the trip into my project, when that is the exact opposite of what I’m working towards. Or maybe I’m just reading into it all too much.