• 6 Posts
  • 12 Comments
Joined 2 years ago
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Cake day: June 9th, 2023

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  • Certainly! Working from the top of my head, it was roughly:

    • ~5 lbs. short ribs (9 ribs)
    • 3 onions, chopped
    • 2 carrots, chopped
    • 2 heads garlic, cut in half
    • 2 Tbsp. tomato paste
    • 1 Tbsp. gochujang
    • 2 tsp. fish sauce
    • 3 sprigs each fresh thyme and rosemary
    • 4 cups beef stock
    • ~½ bottle red wine - I used Cabernet

    I seared the beef, then I sauteed the onions, carrots, and garlic head halves until browned. Then I added the tomato paste and gochujang, sauteed some more, and then added the training ingredients. I like the beef back in, brought to a simmer, and tossed in a 300°F oven with the lid ajar for about 3 hours, turning the ribs occasionally. You need to fish out the garlic at the end.

    The polenta was:

    • 4 cups water
    • 2 cups milk
    • 1½ cups corn meal
    • ~1 cup shredded gruyere
    • 4 Tbsp. butter

    I boiled the water and milk, swore while it over boiled and made a need of my stove, cleaned it up, and then beat in the corn meal. I stirred it regularly for half an hour and finished by mixing in the cheese and butter.

    I totally salted everything to taste because I am not a savage.

    The gremolata on top is just a mix of chopped parsley, garlic, lemon zest, and some salt.

    It was not hard for a fancy dish. I hope you enjoy!

    I got the basic recipe idea from a random post when I read it on the website that shall not be named, and then I had fun with it as I went.





  • I hear you on this, but I have come to appreciate that my dreams are not always limited like my real world is. When I had cancer, it got really bad. I could not speak for months. I could barely walk. The constant pain, even on a hefty dose of opioids, was all consuming. Just watching TV took too much energy, so I stared blankly at the wall while my family tried to carry on around me.

    But in my dreams? In my dreams I was still me. Once I fell asleep, I could talk, laugh, run, and have the freedom I had lost in life. I could play with my kids. I could spend time with my friends. I could exist without pain.

    None of it was real, and in the beginning I cried when I woke up, but the dreams kept coming. It didn’t matter if my real life was not worth living - my dream life carried me. Waking up stopped being a sad thing and instead became what falling asleep used to be. It was a transition to the less interesting part of my life.

    I am better now, but I am not the man I was before I got sick. In my dreams, though? The pain is still gone. My energy has returned. My waking life is worth living again, but my dream life is freedom from the shackles of my body.

    I am sorry your dreams hurt you. Maybe the day will come that the pain they bring you now becomes a blessing. I hope in time you and your dream life make peace.


  • Good documentation should, in part, tell people where to click. I have designed software documentation for high performing individuals at leading global companies, and I have designed software and hardware documentation for minimum wage fast food workers with limited English proficiency. In both extremes, I showed them exactly where to click on the screen at each step.

    You might not need that level of help, but many people do. Others do not strictly need it, but they prefer the simple instruction set. “Click here then here,” instructions ease the transition into a new system one needs to learn, or it removes the need entirely to learn a system one uses infrequently.

    The problem is that making good documentation is difficult and time consuming. It relies on a fundamentally different skill set than coding or even UI design.

    I agree that the ideal is for software to not need any documentation. In my experience, I have yet to see software that rises to that task and is used across a variety of experience levels and societal cross sections.





  • I wear a Tilley Airflo pretty much any time I am outside.

    I need a wide broom to protect my eyes from the sun (early cataracts). I need a hat that is useful for outdoor fun but also looks good around town. I do not want to worry about rain or have a lot of upkeep.

    I wash my Tilley in the machine. I get compliments everywhere I go. It works great on the trail, and looks great paired with a sport coat for a country-boy-on-the-town sort of look. I can’t recommend that hat enough.


  • They want my wife and children dead. If they are near my family, they pose an existential threat. I will leave saving the proverbial souls of neo Nazis to others. I am interested in establishing that my family is off limits and dangerous for them to so much as look at.

    Would I throw a punch at a confirmed Nazi? Without hesitation.

    Some people learn to shed the racism from their heart and become better people. Some will only get so far as keeping quiet because they are afraid. There will always be severely racist people. It is just as important that they feel unequivocally unwelcome as it is to change those who will change.


  • You know what? It’s been pretty good.

    I am recovering well from rotator cuff surgery with much more range of motion at this point than typical. My youngest had a hard start of the week at school but has turned it around. My oldest ran in his first cross country meet - he came in dead last, and though he is extremely disappointed he has no intentions of quitting. He and I grabbed burgers and an appetizer sampler at the local pub to boost his spirits, and it was more like hanging out with a younger friend than with my kid. Tonight is a date night with my wife, which means we will get high and order takeout once the kids are in bed.

    We have plenty of hard times, but this is a good week.