Lobster Tails

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Today I tried to cook up some lobster tails for the first time. I had a big pot for steaming so I decided to pick up 2 fresh tails at the store. I also picked up a small Sword Fish steak just in case the tails weren’t filling enough. I called my dad for cooking advise an after getting the steaming 101 class on the phone I was off preparing my meal. I think I started off with the flame too low since steaming up the first tail took longer than my dad said it should and it wasn’t fully cooked. I had to put it back in. I cooked one as a test and then tried the second one. In the end one of the tails was a bit over cooked and the other one was perfect. Since neither of them had the shell seamed it was an effort getting the meat out. The verdict was the lobster tails were very tasty but not worth the almost $10 a tail. I was still hungry and they weren’t filling at all. I ended up cooking the Sword Fish on the George Formal Grill. It was really good even though I had the same thing last night. I hadn’t had it in a while so it was still good!

The day was uneventful otherwise.

Xmarks

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For years I tried (and generally succeeded) to use the same computer at home and at work. At my current job I have a company laptop that is different than my home computer. This presented a problem with managing my browser bookmarks that I hadn’t had in years. I also need to use Internet Explorer for work stuff but I like to use Firefox whenever I can. Switching between the two setups was a bit frustrating. I recently downloaded Xmarks. It solved the issue of syncing bookmarks between browsers and computers. I liked how easy it was to setup and use I already have it on all my computers. I am liking web sites / applications that let me take my data with me on whatever computer I want and everything is synced up!

Security Overkill

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I love reading articles from Bruce Schneier. I have read Secrets & Lies, and I am in the process of reading Beyond Fear on my Kindle now. He explains security and security concepts for computers and in the real world in a fascinating way. He also points out the absurity of some of the security practices that we see today. I love this article he pointed to that I read tonight. This isn’t the first time I have read articles about some of the absurd rules regarding calling in suspicious activity or banning taking of photos. My personal favorite was the news regarding Amtrak Police arresting a contestant in their own photo taking contest! As someone who a) deals with real world security and b) someone who likes taking photos of trains and planes this is really disturbing.

Beer Garden Monday

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Went to the Beer Garden in Astoria last night. Mike and co bailed out at the last minute but I ended up going with Jenn. Some of her friends meet up with is later. Apparently all these people worked in the same building as me for over a year and I never meet them (or don’t remember). Jenn works with Mike and hangs out at the same bar as I do and apparently I have meet all these people before but can’t recall. Such a small world.

In any event I was happy to meet new people, and goto the Beer Garden on a fantastic night. It was truly amazing out. I had a few drinks, some food, hung out and talked with some new people. It was a great night. Too bad it was a Monday!

Technical Support

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I just read this article I saw from Digg. It discusses Why Technical Support Sucks. Having worked on a help-desk (never a call center but internal support for a company), and provided technology support and infrastructure for a Call Center, I can say that allot of the facts are dead on in the article. I have seen some games just like they described go one with regards to ghost calls, etc. It is sad but a reality of the call center world. I thought the article was dead on and entertaining! I wish it wasn’t so brutally true:(

The Day For Cleaning

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Depending on how you looked at it today was either a day of relaxing at home or a day of cleaning. On one hand I lounged around today, and didn’t go out, slept late and watched most off the remaining good crap on my Tivo. I also did some senseless updating of my iTunes library. Now most of the music I listen too now has album art!

On the flip side I spent the other part of the day doing two loads of laundry. Cleaning out part of my closet, and tidying up the apartment. So in some ways the day was actually very productive, and in others a total veg fest. To me that makes it the perfect Sunday!

Observe and Report

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Went to see Observe and Report with Danny tonight. That movie was disturbing. That being said, it was also funny so overall I liked it. After the movie we headed over to The Heartland Brewery for dinner. I stuck with one Obon scotch and no other drinks. I am still recovering from my cold.

The weather today was fantastic. I brought a jacket thinking that it would get cold at night. Leaving for the subway after dinner it was still nice enough out that I didn’t need it. Go figure. All and all a nice relaxing day, even if I didn’t do any of the shopping I had wanted to!

Broken Glasses

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I don’t know how long they have been messed up, but this week I noticed my glasses were broken. I have lenses that tint when exposed to outside sunlight. They are really cool since I don’t need to carry a second pair of sun glasses. I took them off while tinted the other day and i noticed that parts of the edge of the lenses were not getting dark. I thought that maybe it was perspiration or dirt. I figured I would clean them and check another day. Well I did just that. I cleaned the glasses and went out to the grocery store across the street. When I was outside I examined the glasses more carefully. I was amazed to see that the edge of both lenses were not as dark as the center of each lense. One lense was worse than the other but it was clear that the tint finish was defective. I don’t know how long it was messed up like that. It may have been a while. When wearing them you couldn’t see anything wrong since the defects were at the edge.

I took the glasses into the Lenscrafters that I got them from. They were very helpful and replaced the lenses for free. While I had two hours to kill I headed over to Blaggards for a drink or two. Meet up with Mike, Luke, Stanley, etc. It was fun seeing everyone. I headed back to pick up my fixed glasses and headed home. I did stop by Nathans for take out dinner. I hadn’t had Nathans for ages so it was a nice treat.

Back at Work

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Today was an in the office day for me. I was feeling better than yesterday, but I still feel crappy so I didn’t make my scheduled trip to NJ. I ended up going to my home base office instead. I feel bad not trekking out to Jersey but I don’t want to kill myself. I will go next week. Today was packed with meetings. Talking while my throat hurts wasn’t so fun. I had two hot chocolates throughout the day. I actually used my work mug for the second time since I got it! Not a fan of having to clean it, but it is ecologically more friendly than using disposable ones I guess.

Sick Day

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I took a sick day today from work. It was the first sick day since everything that went on in October. The stupid head cold I had was killing me. I couldn’t breath or talk. The lack of sleep because of the lack of breathing from my noise was the final straw. I figured I would rest up so I could goto the office tomorrow. I am feeling better than I was last night, but still no where near 100% better.

I totally forgot it was tax day. Of course I did my tax’s in February so it didn’t matter to me!