What In Tarnation?!?!?

Tired… Must… post…

You Are a Chocolate Chip Cookie

Traditional and conservative, most people find you comforting. You’re friendly and easy to get to know. This makes you very popular - without even trying!

Class dismissed.

Today is Johnny Appleseed’s birthday. John Chapman (aka Appleseed) was born back in the day, 1774 to be exact. Chapman introduced apples to a big chunk of the American Midwest, well three states at least. I also found it interesting that he was a missionary for Swedenborgianism. Who knew? Johnny would start a nursery with a fence around it and allowed a nearby neighbor to tend to the nursery of apple trees. Every year or two, he would come back to collect money from his managers though he wasn’t really a stickler about payment. Johnny tried to give any wealth to the poor but because he was a very poor accountant, he actually died owning all kinds of land that was worth millions at the time.

At school we took to the day to make apple stuff. We made applesauce, apple butter, apple crisp and apple turnovers. We also ate quite a few apples along the way too and we still have a ton left.

I took pictures of the event with my digital camcorder. I attached the camcorder to my Mac at home and iPhoto uploaded the pictures. Now it was time to post the pics to my Gallery photo gallery over a my class website so parents could see all the fun we had. I opened a little application that I use on Windows called Gallery Remote that easily uploads photos to Gallery. One problem every time I open the application it cries because it can’t find ImageMagik on my Mac. Well good luck finding any clear info for getting ImageMagik on the Mac. I finally gave up on that and looked for another tool rather than using the slow web interface to upload the photos. That’s when I found iPhoto2Gallery.  It is a little plugin that slides right into iPhoto. After installed I just go to iPhoto, select the pictures I want and choose File -> Export and choose the Gallery tab. I provide the requested info about my server and installation of Gallery, choose the album and upload the pictures from iPhoto right on into Gallery. It was pretty slick and it saved me quite a bit of time. Sweet!

So enough about all that. Wanna see some pic from our day of fun and apples? I thought you did.

Class dismissed!

Seen at Time to Believe.

Your Inner Child Is Surprised

You see many things through the eyes of a child. Meaning, you’re rarely cynical or jaded. You cherish all of the details in life. Easily fascinated, you enjoy experiencing new things.

Not sure how accurate that is… What’s yours?

Class dismissed!

Timothy has tagged me.

1. What do you like most about where you live?
   I like the size. It isn’t too big or it isn’t too small. And it is in the middle of everything. Well at least everything in Missouri. An hour and a half (or so) from St. Louis, Springfield, and Columbia. I am in driving distance of just about everything one could need. Timothy’s reasons for liking St. Louis goes double for me.
2. Is there anything strange about where you live?
   
   We have a replica of Stonehenge.
3. What’s one of your all-time favorite music albums, and why?
   
   I love the sound and spirit of the album.
4. Did you have a passion for something as a kid that you still have now? (If not - what is one of your passions now?)
   I loved TV as a kid and I still love it now but I wouldn’t classify myself as passionate about it.
5. What do you like most about having a blog?
   The commenters.

Who wants to take a crack at this? Let me know in the comments.

Class dismissed!

Vox is a new free blogging service for people who think blogging is too difficult. I signed up for an account just to see how it works. It is interesting how Vox handles your multimedia and Vox has more of a social networking scheme that normal blogging has. Another aspect of Vox that I like is it posts a picture scavenger hunt and a Question each day that Voxxers can answer. My Vox account with one measly post can be found here.

I have two invitations to give out if anyone is interested, let me know in the comments.

Last night was my first show at the St. Louis Repertory Theatre for this season, it’s their 40th season. The first show this year is a musical called Ace. Here is the official description:

A high-flying, world premiere musical, filled with humor, heart and a dazzling new score! An unexpected gift and visits from a mysterious Army aviator named Ace send troubled 10-year-old Billy Lucas soaring from 1950s St. Louis on a journey around the world.

Billy takes flight in his dreams, embarking on a series of heroic and haunting World War I and World War II adventures and discovering that the secrets of his past may hold the key to unlock the door to his future.

Ace plays through October 1st and may I humbly suggest to any readers in the St. Louis area to go see it before it leaves. This is the first time that Ace has run, it is brand new and a bit selfishly, I hope that it is successful because I want to own the soundtrack. The music is wonderful and the show takes the viewer on an emotional trip. To hear a brief snippet of the music go to the Rep’s new and revamped website and there is a one minute video clip of video and music from the show, though I don’t promise that it will be there after Oct. 1.

Despite the above I do have a few criticisms of the show and the artistic director of the theatre admits that it is very likely that the show will continue to change and morph to more of a final version. My first issue is the central mystery (at least I think it is supposed to be a mystery from the way the first act is structured) is quite obvious and the show keeps referring to the mystery reminding you that the mystery is really kind of lame. Another issue, more obvious in the first act rather than the second, is the romantic relationships are really rushed and don’t have time to develop. Thankfully though those relationships aren’t really central to the emotional thrust of the show. The relationship that is the main emotional story arc does work well, really well and they all center around the main character Billy.

Speaking of Billy, a big portion rests on the shoulders of a child actor and the Rep found a jewel in Noah Galvin who plays Noah. He was quite amazing. Not only could he match singing chops with any of the adult actors but he could also act. His performance alone made the show worth the drive.

I hope that Ace makes it to Broadway. Despite a few plotting issues the show is excellent evening with some fun and powerful songs.

Really if you are in the area, go see it. Or if you live in the Cincinnati area, Ace is coming to you after it ends its run in St. Louis. You will not regret it.

My grade: A

Class dismissed!

This recipe was on my favorite PBS cooking show, America’s Test Kitchen. I am getting ready to try it. I will let you know how it goes.

Serves 4 to 6

Meatloaf mix is a combination of ground beef, pork, and veal, sold pre-packaged in many supermarkets. If it’s unavailable, use ground beef. Use a 12-inch nonstick skillet with a tight-fitting lid for this recipe.

1. Pour tomatoes with their juices into 1-quart liquid measuring cup. Add water until mixture measures 1 quart.

2. Heat oil in large nonstick skillet over medium heat until shimmering. Add onion and 1/2 teaspoon salt and cook until onion begins to brown, about 5 minutes. Stir in garlic and pepper flakes and cook until fragrant, about 30 seconds. Add ground meat and cook, breaking apart meat, until no longer pink, about 4 minutes.

3. Scatter pasta over meat but do not stir. Pour diced tomatoes with juices and tomato sauce over pasta. Cover and bring to simmer. Reduce heat to medium-low and simmer, stirring occasionally, until pasta is tender, about 20 minutes.

4. Remove skillet from heat and stir in 1/2 cup Parmesan. Season with salt and pepper. Dot with heaping tablespoons ricotta, cover, and let stand off heat for 5 minutes. Sprinkle with basil and remaining 2 tablespoons Parmesan. Serve.

Class dismissed!

1. How long have you been blogging?
It is coming up to five years. Five years?!?!? And I only have 322,932 words (before this post) that I have tapped out? There seems like there should be more words.
2. How many times have you taken a break from blogging?
A couple of times. That is planned breaks anyway. Most frequently during the summer when I am more frequently away from my computer and have less to post about.
3. How long is the longest you’ve gone, so far, without posting on your blog?
One summer I went the whole month of July (or was it June) off.
4. How many fellow bloggers do you keep in touch with, through your blogs, on a regular basis?
About ten I think.
5. Have you ever met, in person, a blogger on your blogroll?
Other than people I already knew? No. It is not that I haven’t attempted. I have tried twice to meet Bryan of Spare Change. I live pretty close to some other bloggers on the ole roll. It just has never happened.
6. How often do you update/change the ‘extra’ stuff on your blog?
Whenever I get a hanckerin’. I think once a season.
7. Do you think you’ll be blogging for years to come?
That is a good question and one that I have considered quite a bit here recently. Blogging has become quite a bit more laborious of late. Hence the less frequent updates recently. Has almost five years gotten to me? Probably. Will I quit anytime soon? Probably not because I value the friendships that I have formed but you never know. Something tells me that I won’t complete quit for some time to come.

Class dismissed!