The holidays kept me running a good bit and now with the start of the year, I’ve been going 100 miles an hour and haven’t had a lot of time to write. In playing with the free music streaming service Pandora (http://www.pandora.com) and having a quick chat with a friend about podcasts we listen to, I thought of a quick post that I thought I could squeeze in with today’s hectic schedule.
Author / Michael Ashby
Scott MacHaffie Interview Archive Posted
If you haven’t downloaded it already, the mp3 archive/podcast for December 15th‘s Computer Outlook radio show has been posted. You can find it at this URL. For December’s show, we interviewed Scott MacHaffie who wrote the book “Palm and Treo Hacks : Tips & Tools for Mastering Your Handheld
A Funny Thing Happened On The Way To North Carolina
Since I met my wife over 18 years ago (gawd that makes me sound old), we’ve always celebrated her birthday by trying to make it special. Since it falls on the 19th of December, just 6 days before Christmas, it makes it a bit of a challenge since it’s easy to lump the two events together. So we found that by taking a small trip somewhere, we can help make it more unique. This year we decided to drive to North Carolina and explore High Point and Willimington.
The plan was to leave the night of Thursday the 15th to get a head start on all the driving. High Point is an 8 hour drive, so instead of eating up all of Friday driving, we could break it up over two days and have most of Friday to browse the acres of furniture that High Point is known for. I also had to do my radio show for Computer Outlook that evening, and the day itself was crazy as ever with having to visit several client sites, shop for Holly, etc. Suffice to say that it I had a very busy day planned.
Scott MacHaffie Tonight On Computer Outlook
Tonight’s guest will be Scott MacHaffie, the author of Palm and Treo Hacks on the Computer Outlook radio program. The show airs live at 7pm CST/CDT in the Las Vegas area.
If you’re like me and don’t live in that area, you can listen live via the Internet at this link: http://www.computeroutlook.com/radio-player/feed-frameset2.html
Simply choose your preferred stream and you should be good to go. If you miss the live broadcast, there will be a podcast available at a later date.
I’m The TV.com Editor For John Mese
Today I became the TV.com Editor for the actor John Mese. What does that mean? Well, I now have editorial control for the content submitted for John. How did I get this title? By submitting enough content about him to earn enough points for the title. Now that you know the “what” and the “how”, you’re probably wondering the “why”, so I thought I’d give a little bit of the back story. Back in 1988, I needed an elective at LSU and I opted for an Acting 101 class. John was the instructor and I have to say, he was an excellent teacher. It was clear that he found acting exciting and he translated that into the class. It was a blast and I ended up getting an “A” and fueled by John’s love of acting, I decided to go on to the 201 class after that. Unfortunately, the 201 instructor sucked and I dropped the class. John ended up graduating from the Master of Fine Arts program, a graduate study curriculum in the Theatre Department, that year and moving to LA to pursue his career. While he was in Baton Rouge though, he was one a very cool guy to hang out with. I can’t say that we were friends really, I mean he was my instructor, but he was very approachable and fun to hang out with. I’ll never forget this party he through. He was living in an old shoe, or boot store (if memory serves) and he threw a party. I was lucky enough to be invited, so I invited a buddy of mine to go with me, since I didn’t know anyone other than John. We went and it was a blast. He played some of the worst music I’ve ever heard in my life, but it didn’t seem to matter because everyone was dancing and having a great time. I distinctly remember seeing John standing on a table howling up at the ceiling clearly enjoying his party as much as his guests. Since I’ve gone off on a tangent, I might as well go off on another. During his days at LSU, John had long hair that was all one-length. If you remember Dan Cortese when he was on MTV Sports, then I think you get the picture. He was quite proud of his hair too, which is understandable, and would pull it back into a pony tail. You’d never know that he was a Catholic High School graduate to look at him then. He was definitely NOT preppy in any way shape or form. Continue Reading
Michael Mace Interview Archive Posted
The archive of the interview I did with Michael Mace for the Computer Outlook Radio Show has been posted at http://www.computeroutlookrts.com/mp3/111705.mp3. I have to say that not only was it an honor to interview Mr. Mace again, it was also one of the best shows we’ve ever done. Really good stuff!
Homemade Biscuits – Round 1
When I got into cooking last year, my Mom gave me her Mother’s cookbook. It’s an old stitch bound notebook in which my Grandmother would write down her favorite recipes. There’s a wide assortment of dishes ranging from “Mincemeat Cookies” to “Cabbage Bundles”, but the majority of my Grandmother’s recipes revolve around baking. My Mother has told endless, dreamy tales of how my Grandmother was such a great baker. Unfortunately she didn’t pass on her knowledge, so all we have is this small notebook.
With Thanksgiving coming up my thoughts have been centered around cooking and one of the things that I’ve been wanting to try are Grandma’s biscuit recipe. So this weekend I thought I’d give it a shot. I have never made biscuits before and I’ve never seen them made either, so I didn’t have high hopes for the results of my labor. As long as the biscuits came out edible, I would be happy.
Lampe Berger & Effusion Lamps
My wife an I stumbled onto the greatest air purifier/aromatic thing-a-ma-jig in the world and I just had to tell you all about it. I’m not usually this gung ho about things for the home, but this little bad boy really surprised me at just how good it is.
When Mike Rohde and his wife Gail came to visit back in October, Holly and Gail went shopping in Franklin, TN to a place called The Factory. As they browsed the various boutiques and sundry shops, they entered “Cherie’s Unique Decor” and were immediately taken by the fragrance that wafted through the air. Asking the owner what smelled so wonderful, they were told it was a fragrance called “Red Currant” and when they asked about what was creating the scent, that’s when they were told the whole story.
Fast forward to several hours later when Gail and Holly are trying to describe how this oil lamp worked. Although they tried to explain it, I just couldn’t get my head around how this thing worked exactly. Mike and I both scratched our head a bit and figured we’d go out there ourselves and see them first-hand since Holly was so enamored with them. Lucky for Holly and I, we didn’t have to wait because Mike and Gail bought us one as an early thank you gift!
Now that I had one in hand, I could get a better sense of how this thing worked, but first I had to try it out for my self. We followed the instructions, waited for the wick to get it’s fill of oil and then lit the top of the lamp. After 4 minutes or so, we blew it out and then took a step back as the room began to fill with the most wonder scent. It was heaven.
Mashby’s Top 10 Television Shows (part 2)
The other day I wrote about the first five of my top ten favorite television shows. It’s now time to cover the second half of my top ten. If you missed the first part, you can find it at this link. So without any further ado, my favorite shows from 6 to 10 are as follows.
06. “Lost” (ABC)
My wife and I missed catching the first few episodes of Lost when it first began airing last year. It wasn’t until the Season 1 DVD
“Lost” is the story about the survivors of a plane crash, who find themselves on an island. The real adventure begins once they discover that the island holds many mysteries and so do the survivors themselves. The hook that pulls you in and won’t let go is the way the story slowly draws you into the mysteries. Instead of big stunning revelations, the viewer peels away one layer at a time, much like layers on a onion. For this reason though, it’s really best to watch it from the beginning. Coming into the middle of Season 2 isn’t the best way to ease your way into the series. There’s a lot of strange things that occur and it’s best to experience them for yourself and not by word-of-mouth.
If you’re new to the series, be sure and watch the Season 1 DVD