Can't see it very well in the x-ray, but trust me it hurts really bad!
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INGREDIENTS (small batch 1 1/4 cups)
* 1 cup cider vinegar
* 1 tablespoon salt (WOW this is a lot of salt, I just use 1 teaspoon)
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 teaspoon crushed red pepper flakes
* 1 tablespoon brown sugar
DIRECTIONS
In a small bowl, combine the vinegar, salt, cayenne pepper, crushed red pepper flakes and brown sugar. Mix well and allow ingredients to mesh for about 4 to 8 hours before using.
South Carolina BBQ Sauce
INGREDIENTS (3 cups)
* 1 1/2 cups prepared yellow mustard
* 1/2 cup packed brown sugar
* 3/4 cup cider vinegar
* 3/4 cup beer
* 1 tablespoon chili powder
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground black pepper
* 1 teaspoon freshly ground white pepper
* 1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
* 1 1/2 teaspoons Worcestershire sauce
* 2 tablespoons butter, room temperature
* 1 1/2 teaspoons liquid smoke flavoring (I do honey over liquid smoke, totally different but I like it.)
* 1 teaspoon Louisiana-style hot sauce, or to taste
DIRECTIONS
1. In a heavy non-reactive saucepan, stir together the mustard, brown sugar, vinegar, and beer. Season with chili powder and black, white, and cayenne peppers. Bring to a simmer over medium-low heat, and cook for about 20 minutes. DO NOT BOIL, or you will scorch the sugar and peppers.
2. Mix in the Worcestershire sauce, butter, and liquid smoke. Simmer for another 15 to 20 minutes. Taste, and season with hot sauce to your liking. Pour into an airtight jar, and refrigerate for overnight to allow flavors to blend. The vinegar taste may be a little strong until the sauce completely cools.
Thanks allrecipes.com!
]]>So, the other day I was totally obsessed with the videos produced by http://www.checkpointusa.org/ and posted on YouTube. The basic plot of the videos is that this guy disagrees with the U.S. Border Patrol check points located within the boards. Apparently, check points can be setup within 100 miles of a border. Now I'm not sure that I totally agree with what this guy is doing (and how he is doing it), but I really do think he has a point. If your looking to kill sometime check out the below video as well as the other ones this user has posted on YouTube.
]]>So Regina and I are planning another trip. This time to Canada where we will stay at the hotel de glace an all ice hotel. Now I'm not a big fan of cold weather, but come on this sounds crazy enough for me to check out. Now when I say all ice hotel I'm talking ALL ice. The beds, bar, chairs, rooms, everything....all ice. We booked the hotel for some weekend in February and are both very excited.
So I know I haven't posted in awhile so I thought I would end with a Hack I read about. As soon as I showed the hack to Regina she was sharing it with everyone...it's a pretty easy useful one if you have a Comcast DVR.
Comcast remote hack (aka how to program the remote to skip ahead 30 seconds on recordings):
-Choose an unused button on the "silver" remote, "A button" is a good one to pick.
-Press the "Cable" button at the top of the remote.
-Press and hold the "Setup" button until the "Cable" button blinks twice.
-Type in the code 994. The "Cable" button will blink twice.
-Press (do not hold) the "Setup" button.
-Type in the code 00173.
-Press the button you want to map the 30-second skip command to.
Can't see it very well in the x-ray, but trust me it hurts really bad!
]]>-Wed July 23rd
Regina and I attended the digg meet up in Chicago. This event was held at the Smart Bar in Wrigleyville. I really had no idea about what to expect as we don't get many web 2.0 meet ups happening in this area. I'm a hugh fan of digg.com and was excited to attend an event hosted by them. So here is the crazy part....as soon as we entered the venue we spot Kevin Rose (founder of digg). I look over at Regina and kind of freak out. You see one of the things I hate most when we go out is when someone else is dressed like me. (Example: If Regina is wearing a red shirt, I will not. If hanging out with friends and someone is wearing the same shirt as me I leave and change.) The reason I freaked out is that Kevin and myself were wearing a very similar shirt. Regina comments to me that I look like him (shaggy hair, both around 6 feet tall, and similar outfit) and am bound to cause confusion as the bar was very dark.
Regina was correct as all through the night people mistook me for Kevin. Some would walk up notice I was not Kevin and move on. Many others would approach, notice I was not Kevin and start up a conversation with me. This was pretty cool as I probably would not have met so many people otherwise. In fact Aubrey from digg at one point mistook me for Kevin. I then used that funny experience as an opening for talking to her later that night. Very cool chick, and I hear she is single for all you single guys out there...she is for sure very cute!
Kevin and myself 1
Kevin and myself 2
Kevin and myself 3
Sara (awesome chick we met that night) and Regina
-Thurs July 24th
The following digg article hits the front page of digg.com:
http://digg.com/tech_news/Digg_s_Chicago_Town_Hall_Pics_sub_Diggs_Tribune_strategy
Are you kidding me! Too funny!!! Valleywag.com, a site that I often visit, also linked to the article. In fact they asked the photographer (Rachel, super cool chick) if it was alright if they use the photo for an article regarding the mix up. I don't think they will actually do the article, but I do find it really funny!
Fri July 25th-Sun July 27th
Front row tickets to the Hootie and the Blowfish concert!
Regina and I traveled up to the Wisconsin Dells for the weekend to catch the show. We stayed at the Ho-Chunk Casino which I believe is owned by the Ho-Chunk Indians/Native Americans. The Concert was pretty cool although they played way too many cover songs. I'm guessing because they didn't think the audience would be full of Hootie fans. After the show we got to chat with Mark (lead guitar) and get photos with him (non digital...photos to appear on this site soon).
Tomorrow July 28th
My birthday! I plan to relax and enjoy the day.
]]>I'm in one of those odd moods tonight. I've been listening to Country Music, even playing some on guitar. I've got to say if all Country Music was like Taylor Swift and Carrie Underwood I would probably listen to a lot more of it...ok maybe because they are cute chicks....don't tell Regina ;)
Best live performance I've seen in awhile:
I guess Country is "in" now? Sure why not.
Darius Rucker:
In steps the liveusb-creator from the Fedora Project. This great little Windows application makes the install seem like child's play. When you first start up the application you will notice a very simple menu with a four step process.
step one Choose if you would like to use a locally stored (or CD) copy of Fedora or if you would rather the application download an ISO for you to use. I've been a big fan of Ubuntu for a while now and did not happen to have a copy of Fedora 9 on my system, so I chose the 'download Fedora' option.
step two Pick which drive letter correlates to your USB drive.
step three Select how much space you would like to set aside for Persistent Overlay. In other words, how much space would you like on the drive for storing files and settings. I find this feature really cool. If you have used live Linux CD's in the past you may have noticed that when you reboot your settings are lost. With Persistent Overlay all customized settings and downloaded files can be saved to your USB drive for use the next time you boot up.
step four Click 'Create Live USB'
In a short amount of time (longer if you choose the 'download Fedora' option) you will have a boot-able USB drive with Fedora 9 installed.
note-
I used a 1gig thumb drive - not sure if I would even try to use anything smaller.
The project turned out to be extremely easy and only took a couple hours to get everything up and running. The XBMC (Xbox Media Center) allows me to stream just about any type of media on my network to my new television. Watching the Mythtv videos was a snap, but that's not the best feature. When I got home from work today I finally got the Revision3 script to run properly. What does that mean? I am able to stream all of the Revision3 shows on my tv without having to download the shows to a computer first (yeah yeah I know the xbmc has to cache some data). I've also been able to watch Webb Alert as well as other online shows from the comfort of my couch.
Photos-
Diggnation on TV
Very happy with this project, and would be glad to assist others who are wanting to do the same.
In other news....
Regina and I got to attend a live taping of Diggnation in St.Louis. I'll post photos soon and will tell my tale of purchasing both Kevin and Alex a beer. Very cool opportunity to buy two of my idols a Budweiser!
Also, I'm trying out twitter. If anyone out there uses it let me know. I'm sure I'll write more about it later.
Twitter profile: twitter.com/joeharr
I'm sure Regina will have the photos posted on the Vacation Photo link soon. I guess I could go into how great the weather was, how wonderful the beach is, how chill the local folks were, and how laid back everything was, but I couldn't do it justice.
Currently listening to....
"We've been on the run
Driving in the sun
Looking out for #1
California here we come
Right back where we started from"
Lyrics by Phantom Planet - California
The Good:
- The weather is so warm!
- The food has been very tasty. Taco Factory and McGregor's were both great. Thanks for the suggestions Brett and Beth!
- Row 5 on the airplane. On our flight from Minneapolis to San Diego we were able to pick the row right behind first class. So much leg room and lots of room for carry on luggage.
The not so good:
- iTunes. So I know that Art will not like that i'm staying this but....I am moving away from using iTunes. I loaded three videos and a dozen songs onto my iPod before our trip. When the transfer was complete I checked to make sure the files were on the iPod. Everything looked good... When I went to watch the videos on the plane I noticed that nothing that I had loaded the night before had truly transfered over. Not happy! In fact other video podcasts that I had loaded were also missing.
-Rental car. Had to change a fuse to get the cigarette (power) outlet to work. Not good when you are in a new city and dependent on a GPS system.
So far....
Watched Riverdance in Peoria, and staying in our first of three hotels.
6 a.m. flight tomorrow.
]]>What a great time Regina and I had at this event! One of the coolest things to occur was when I went to the bar to get a beer and turn to my left to see Kevin standing right next to me. I bought both Kevin and Alex a Budweiser and enjoyed a Bud Light myself. Now how cool is that to get the opportunity to buy your idols a beer. Both of them were extremely nice and down to earth.
and
Photo 2