Tuesday, November 03, 2009

Weather Conditions from The Weather Channel

Severe Weather Alert for Brick, NJ (08723)

Freeze Warning until Wed Nov 04 2009 09:00 AM EST

...FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT TO 9 AM EST WEDNESDAY... A FREEZE WARNING REMAINS IN EFFECT FROM MIDNIGHT TONIGHT UNTIL 9:00 AM ON WEDNESDAY. HIGH PRESSURE WILL BUILD IN FROM THE WEST TONIGHT. WITH A MOSTLY CLEAR SKY AND A DIMINISHING WIND, TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST TO DROP NEAR OR JUST BELOW FREEZING IN PARTS OF OUR REGION. WIDESPREAD FROST IS EXPECTED. PRECAUTIONARY/PREPAREDNESS ACTIONS... A FREEZE WARNING MEANS THAT SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES ARE FORECAST. THE SUB-FREEZING TEMPERATURES WILL KILL SENSITIVE VEGETATION.

For more weather information, visit www.weather.com from your PC or mobile device.
Sent while on the road from my Blackberry

Monday, September 07, 2009

Labor Day weekend wonderfulness

the work portion of the weekend is over and the day of relaxing has begun…. sort of. My cat Cluie decided that it was a normal work day and nibbled my fingers at 5:30 this morning to wake me up. So… I headed down to the kitchen and brewed up a pot of Mocha Java coffee. Not a flavored coffee, but a type of bean that’s smooth and creamy. windows are open so the sounds of birds are filling the kitchen. first in were the ducks looking for breakfast, then came the squirrels. So I threw out some peanuts for them, and that brought in the Bluejays and their loud squawking. The wild rabbits (Pork, Bean, and Beanie Baby) are looking around my backyard looking for clover that survived the mowing. The slowness of a Monday holiday is wonderful. The lack of the need to rush on what is normally a work day feels strange. As does sitting with my wife and watching Master Blasters, which she is enjoying more then me. The day only has a loose idea of what we are doing. No schedules, not hurry, no worries. the hardest part will be getting out the front door. It overcast or I'd be heading for the beach. Temps have dropped into highs in the 70’s. Summer feels truly gone and Fall is rushing in. But I look forward to this. Fall is my favorite time of year. Things seem to slow to a more controlled pace. There is a cool crispness to the air. Sleeping is deeper and more relaxing. Every season has its place, and Fall begins the wind down of the year and Labor Day signals its start.

Sunday, August 16, 2009

Florida Orange BBQ

I went to make BBQ chicken last night only to discover that I was out of sauce. A quick look through the refrig & I was able to come up with the following sauce that my family went crazy for.

 

1 TB butter

1 med yellow onion

1 TB liquid smoke

1 Medium Orange (Navel)

1 Tsp Red Hot sauce

1 TB Worchester sauce (Lea & Parens)

4 Cups ketchup (Heinz)

2 Cups Light Brown sugar

 

In a sauce pan, melt butter and thinly sliced and chopped onion, & Liquid Smoke. Saute until onion get soft. Zest ( the finer the better, as it’s all about the oil in the skin ) the entire orange and add to pot. Juice the orange directly into pot. Add ketchup and the remaining ingredients. Simmer for 30 mins. Sauce thickens as it cooks. Cook chicken on the grill or in the oven with just a little salt & pepper on the skin. in the last 10 minutes of cooking spoon BBQ sauce over the chicken ( or pork ) reserving half. 5 minutes later cover the chicken with the remaining sauce.

 

Serve with tomato salad, NJ white corn, and baked potatoes.

Enjoy! A wonderful summer meal.

Saturday, August 08, 2009

just another day – By Wil Wheaton

 

I don’t normal blog another blogger personal post, but this one is just to close to home not to… It reminded me of how much I love my wife and though we don’t always have a meeting of the minds, we have a good sense of humor in common and that smoothes the rough edges of my personality.  Love you My Girl….

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Just Another Day – By Wil Wheaton

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/wwdn/~3/Nq-GyEtYF34/just-another-day.html

The Sun reached out from 93 million miles away, pushed against the curtains in my bedroom until it found a small gap, and poked though it. As it moved across the sky, it crept silently down the wall behind me, then deliberately down the headboard until it landed on my forehead. Once there, it took careful steps until it found its target and blazed relentlessly into my eyes.

I was jarred from my wonderful dream, forced to trade my viking garb for the Wheaton college T-shirt I sleep in, and my trusty wolf companion for my dog, who thumped her tail against the bed and licked my face when she realized I was awake.

I scratched her head and then my own, sat up, and got out of bed. She jumped down behind me and trotted down the hall toward the living room. I heard movement behind me and turned to see my cat, stretched out on his side next to Anne's pillow.

"Morning kitty," I said.

"Mrrow," he replied, but what I heard was "I again chose not to kill you while you slept. You're welcome."

I stretched, blinked my eyes several times, and made my way toward the kitchen, where I hoped I'd find coffee.

When I got there, I found not only coffee, but my wife.

"Is there coffee?"

"There is coffee," she said. We always ask each other if there's coffee, whether we know the answer or not; it's part of our morning routine.

"I like coffee," I said. I kissed her on the shoulder while I stepped around her and poured myself a cup. I took it into the dining room, and sipped it.

Ten minutes and half a cup later, I was officially awake. I became aware of the birds singing on the patio, the distant drone of an early morning lawnmower, and then the smell of something familiar on the air. I looked into the kitchen, expecting to see pancakes or waffles on the stove, but it was empty. I shrugged and went back to my coffee. When it was empty, I returned to the kitchen to refill it, and while I stood in front of the coffee machine, Anne took a loaf of banana bread out of the oven.

"Banana bread!" I said, excited. "I thought I smelled it, but I didn't know you were making it!"

She put it on a cooling rack and said, "I told you that I was making banana bread when you were getting your coffee."

I put on my best Homer-Simpson-is-exasperated voice and said, "I was tuning you out. Jeeze!"

She poked a toothpick into the center of the loaf. "Oh, that's sad."

I waited a second, and then I said, ". . . what?"

She looked at me and slowly shook her head as I giggled.


just another day

Monday, August 03, 2009

Jersey Corn on the Cob – Grilled

Every summer its a race for the farm to get corn. Tomatoes from the pots out back. This year we’ve had to purchase as the June rain slowed everything down. It’s not summer till We have a dinner of only Grilled corn on the cob with tomato salad.

Corn on the Grill

Peel back the husk and leave attached to the bottom of cob. Remove all the silk by gently rubbing in finger tips. spread ear with soft butter and add a pinch of salt. wet the husks by dipping into a bowl of water. pull up hush and spread leaves around to cover the kernels. Roast on upper warming rack with a grill temp of 350-400F for 10 mins and then roll over the ears and grill for another 10 mins. Check if ears are done by pulling back a leaf of two and if a few kernels have a light brown color, you are ready to eat.

 

Tomato Salad

Slice tomatoes across their sides like you would for a sandwich about 1/3-1/2 inch thick. Take a large plate and drizzle on some balsamic vinegar and place  tomato slices on it. drizzle with EVOO (olive oil), a little oregano, parsley and pinch of salt. Thin slice yellow or red onion (my favorite) and break apart and spread over tomatoes. Slice fresh mozzarella cheese cut the same thickness as the tomato and place a slice on each tomato slice. drizzle more balsamic vinegar and olive oil. A pinch of pepper and refrigerate for a few minutes to cool everything down. Serve with a crusty bread.

 

Enjoy Summer’s Bounty

Tuesday, July 28, 2009

Transparent aluminium is ‘new state of matter’ – Dvorak Uncensored

 

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/07/28/transparent-aluminium-is-new-state-of-matter/  |  Comments

Quick, somebody check that two whales have not been kidnapped by a Klingon spaceship from the future. William Shatner performing the Sarah Palin speech as a poem must be a distraction. ;)

Transparent aluminium is ‘new state of matter’ – Phyorg.com: Oxford scientists have created a transparent form of aluminium by bombarding the metal with the world’s most powerful soft X-ray laser. ‘Transparent aluminium’ previously only existed in science fiction, featuring in the movie Star Trek IV, but the real material is an exotic new state of matter with implications for planetary science and nuclear fusion.


Transparent aluminium is ‘new state of matter’

Palin’s Farewell Speech Presented As A Poem By William Shatner – from the Dvorak UnCensired

 

http://www.dvorak.org/blog/2009/07/28/palins-farewell-speech-presented-as-a-poem-by-william-shatner/  |  Comments

Read the transcript of the speech.

Found by Gasparrini


Palin’s Farewell Speech Presented As A Poem By William Shatner

Wednesday, July 22, 2009

Comcast?

Thursday, July 09, 2009

Fatal monorail collision at Walt Disney World

 

http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/boingboing/iBag/~3/omIEAGXeU-I/fatal-monorail-colli.html

Eric sez, "The operator of a monorail at Walt Disney World died Sunday morning when two monorails crashed. About five or six guests were on the monorail at the time of the accident, but they are not seriously injured." It happened at the Ticket and Transportation Center station.


A person who was on the scene reported to the news stations that they head a loud explosion and saw the mangled trains in the station. They tried to run to get people out of the front of the crashed train. They saw a family make it out, but the driver [ed: news report cuts off here]

The monorails involved were the pink and purple trains, according to Local 6 in Orlando; pink was moving and hit purple, which was stationary.

Breaking news: Two monorails crash at Disney World overnight, one Cast Member dead (Thanks, Eric and John!)
 

Fatal monorail collision at Walt Disney World

Saturday, July 04, 2009

Jason?

Shut Up & Eat on a Saturday morning with my Nephew! Aaaaah? Nice pajamas
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Friday, July 03, 2009

Project Porch light

I found this on my door yesterday morning. Floresent lamp to replace my incandescent bulb. Saves money & is more "green" but most important free. NJ does a home good!
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Saturday, June 27, 2009

Kato

20090627 Flowers 054

Meet Kato. Our new rolling, twisting & meowing excitable boy. He loves sitting on your lap ( he doesn’t ask first, just does it ). 20090627 Flowers 058

the boys are seldom far apart, but that is changing as Kato is not one to say in place.

20090627 Flowers 061

The was a lot of hissing and spitting in the beginning, but Cluie has begun to accept them. They are not quite playing, but the upset seems to be gone as Cluie realizes that she is not being replaced, but instead has a larger family to be part of. I look forward to the day that she cuddles up with them and naps like she did with Onyx. I think that time is coming and coming soon.

Niff

20090627 Flowers 060 

It almost scary how much Niff looks like our departed Onyx. (see Simmy’s Blog “What's the Poop”) Very different personality, shy, loving and frisky.

Meet our new Kids

20090627 Flowers 057

In the back is “Niff” and in the front “Kato”. Both are boys, a first for our family. the are litter bothers and can not be far from one another. Niff is shy and is looked after by Kato, but is coming out of his shell. He already has claimed the kitchen window as his. Kato is an adventuresome boy, inspecting everything and hamming it up to get attention.

Thursday, June 11, 2009

Nutro Products Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Dry Cat Food Products

 

Nutro Products Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Dry Cat Food Products

Recall -- Firm Press Release

FDA posts press releases and other notices of recalls and market withdrawals from the firms involved as a service to consumers, the media, and other interested parties. FDA does not endorse either the product or the company.

Nutro Products Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Dry Cat Food Products

Contact:
Monica Barrett
Nutro Products, Inc.                       
(615) 628-5387
monica.barrett@effem.com

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE -- Franklin, Tennessee (May 21, 2009) -- Today, Nutro Products announced a voluntary recall of select varieties of NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods with “Best If Used By Dates” between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010. The cat food is being voluntarily recalled in the United States and ten additional countries.  This recall is due to incorrect levels of zinc and potassium in our finished product resulting from a production error by a US-based premix supplier.

Two mineral premixes were affected.  One premix contained excessive levels of zinc and under-supplemented potassium. The second premix under-supplemented potassium.  Both zinc and potassium are essential nutrients for cats and are added as nutritional supplements to NUTRO® dry cat food.

This issue was identified during an audit of our documentation from the supplier.  An extensive review confirmed that only these two premixes were affected. This recall does not affect any NUTRO® dog food products, wet dog or cat food, or dog and cat treats.

Affected product was distributed to retail customers in all 50 states, as well as to customers in Canada, Mexico, Japan, Korea, Thailand, Malaysia, Singapore, Indonesia, New Zealand, and Israel.  We are working with all of our distributors and retail customers, in both the US and internationally, to ensure that the recalled products are not on store shelves. These products should not be sold or distributed further.

Consumers who have purchased affected product should immediately discontinue feeding the product to their cats, and switch to another product with a balanced nutritional profile.  While we have received no consumer complaints related to this issue, cat owners should monitor their cat for symptoms, including a reduction in appetite or refusal of food, weight loss, vomiting or diarrhea.  If your cat is experiencing health issues or is pregnant, please contact your veterinarian.

Consumers who have purchased product affected by this voluntary recall should return it to their retailer for a full refund or exchange for another NUTRO® dry cat food product.  Cat owners who have questions about the recall should call 1-800-833-5330 between the hours 8:00 AM to 4:30 PM CST, or visit www.nutroproducts.com.

Recalled Pet Food

The varieties of NUTRO® NATURAL CHOICE® COMPLETE CARE® Dry Cat Foods and NUTRO® MAX® Cat Dry Foods listed below with “Best If Used By Dates” between May 12, 2010 and August 22, 2010 are affected by this voluntary recall. 

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Click below for full Website and complete listing of products:

Nutro Products Announces Voluntary Recall of Limited Range of Dry Cat Food Products

Wednesday, June 10, 2009

Lifehacker - Trilllian Astra Beta Open for Downloads - trillian

By Kevin Purdy, 4:30 AM on Wed Jun 10 2009, 10,739 views (Edit post, Set to draft, Slurp)

 

Windows: Trillian Astra, the app that wants to manage all your social network updates, chat protocols, and email notifications, has opened its beta to anyone who wants in.

We took a first look at Astra's beta, which is technically Trillian 4.0, back in April, when invites were spontaneously plentiful, but the application remained in closed beta. Now everyone can give Trillian a try and see how the grandpappy of multi-service chat clients has grown up. As CNET's Webware reporters point out, other third-party clients like Pidgin and Digsby have drunk Trillian's milkshake in regards to platform support—which app doesn't have Facebook integration these days?—but Trillian's compact, glossy looks, smart notifications, and bountiful configuration options may win it back some of its old-line fans.

Like the closed beta, this release automatically installs a 30-day trial of Trillian Pro, which adds "advanced" video chat, multi-client logs, and a few other doodads for a price. Unlike the closed beta, Trillian's developers say bugs and efficiencies have been worked on quite a bit. Mac and iPhone versions are on their way, and you can sign up to be included in those testing groups.

Trillian is a free download for Windows XP/Vista/7 systems only. Let us know what you think about Astra's public debut in the comments.

ehacker - Trilllian Astra Beta Open for Downloads - trillian

Tired of long lines at Disney? Now, there's an app for that

 

http://forums.pinstack.com/showthread.php?t=109329&goto=newpost

From the Orlando Sentinel
"Like most people, Brent Pope of Jacksonville gets annoyed by long lines at Walt Disney World.
So after Pope, 44, was laid off from his job at an ad agency few months ago, he decided to do something about it. He developed "Wait Times" — an iPhone application that will tell you how long the lines are at the Magic Kingdom.
Approved for sale by Apple on Tuesday, the "app" depends on other users to supply wait-time information. They choose from a list of rides and then enter or view the wait for that ride. The more information people report, the more useful Pope's 99-cent app becomes."
[Read More]

Tired of long lines at Disney? Now, there's an app for that

Review: Facebook v1.6 for BlackBerry

 

http://forums.pinstack.com/showthread.php?t=109313&goto=newpost


It was ready, then it wasn't... almost two weeks ago we were all waiting impatiently for the much anticipated release of the latest version of Facebook, v1.6. Then, on the day it was to be launched, we were all hit from behind by a HUGE (but all too familiar) bus. It wasn't ready. It's not like we haven't seen that happen before, right? ;)
After waiting, for what felt like months (ok, it was only one week, give or take three hours), its here in all its GLORY (clouds open up and let out sunlight from the Heavens). Much like the Facebook we all see on the web, similar to what seems to me the Twitter Status UI, Ladies & Gentlemen, I give you Facebook 1.6 for BlackBerry.

Setup
The setup is quite like the previous version. You have the options of syncing the contacts (including images), calendar and BlackBerry messenger. With the contacts sync, the contacts on your BlackBerry are synced with the contacts on Facebook, including all the latest profile information, updated photos (be sure to read their mini "privacy statement" on syncing contacts). Syncing with the calander allows you to accept invitations sent to you on Facebook into your BlackBerry calendar. Finally, checking the box for BlackBerry Messenger allows you to be alerted of a new Facebook message while you are in BBM.


Options
In the options menu, you get the choice again whether you want to sync your contacts, calendar or BlackBerry messenger. Scroll down and you also have a few more options to choose from including the ability to clear the Facebook cache and a link to look for updates.


Composing Messages
Composing messages is very easy. Start typing the name of your contact and you get a drop-down menu of all your contacts in alphabetical order.

Pros: you will most likely never need to log back in from desktop ever again; revamped UI is AWESOME; seriously too many to list
Cons: haven't found any yet
Verdict: the developers over at FB really out-did themselves this time. this update should hold us over until the next major :)
Download link: point your BlackBerry browser to mobile.blackberry.com (be sure to remove the www in the 'go to' field)
Check the attachments for more eye candy :)

Review: Facebook v1.6 for BlackBerry

Thursday, June 04, 2009

Classic!

Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry

Sunday, May 31, 2009

Nut?

We also got greeted by our motherly friend who was looking to feed her kids, but buried the nuts all over the neighborhood instead.
Sent from my Verizon Wireless BlackBerry