It occurred to me that I have a blog. Go figure. And when I came to look at it, it was in the middle of something. How embarrassing. But I’m here. A little.
First, the thing that wasn’t ready, previously, well, it’s done, public, old news. But I went back and looked, and it may suck that I killed a book, but the result is still cool. Go visit the callboard at the Théâtre Illuminata, and check out Chapter 1.
I barely had to do anything, but the flash widget is just fun. For some reason, just clicking on the pages and waving them around is strangely thrilling.
Other than that, life kinda goes. I’ve just started a children’s guitar lesson podcast. I wonder if children’s guitars hurt less, because my fingers were raw, the day after.
Another creative project I’m trying to start working on suffers from a serious predation problem. But still, I’ve been trying to sort gummy bears. I finally had to tie the bags and move them to make me stop snacking.
MMm… gummys.
We’ll see just where it goes. And how much survives my snacking to become art. And if my dignity can stand deliberately doing art. I’m a little traumatized there. Fortunately gummy bears taste very therapeutic. Want one?
Anyway… I’ve remembered that I have this thing. I guess that means I have to try to use it. And yet I’m still not sure of my voice here. So here’s a placeholder.
Oh! Yeah! My dear friend Pam, from Facing East Again, came by to visit. She and her kids and I traipsed till our little feeties were sore. But I’ve got some good pictures. Eventually.
Gotta work. Ciao!
Posted in Sunil, life, me.
Tagged with books, life, misc.
By Sunil
– 2009-08-05
I know everybody is really excited about the debut of Lisa Mantchev’s “Eyes Like Stars,” but there’s been something weighing heavily on my conscience and I can no longer stay silent.
I’m amazed how easily a pure heart and good intentions can be lead astray. I hope that fragility will be taken into account as I lay my own heart out for judgment, and, Gentle Reader, I beg forgiveness for the darkness of the deeds done. But though I have many ways to rationalize what happened, in the end, there can be no question of my hands have wrought, and if I must bear this blight upon my soul… Continued…
Posted in books, life.
Tagged with books, creativity, design, humour, life, lisa mantchev, stress.
By Sunil
– 2009-07-08
I don’t actually know how this happened, but I appear to be the first person checking in with Lisa having gotten a bit of mail today.
Continued…
Posted in books, cool, life, me, rants.
Tagged with be jealous, books, cool, eyes like stars, lisa mantchev, writing.
By Sunil
– 2009-06-29
Creativity is a skill. And skills can be learned, it’s always a matter of learning a few techniques and getting practice so you’re comfortable using them. But there isn’t a lot of room for creativity in the education system, and because we don’t value it as much as a culture, I think it’s left underdeveloped in most of us.
Instead, people say, “I’m not creative.” Or they just stay quiet and admire (or envy) the artist types who are bizarre, incomprehensible animals capable of tricks as strange and remote as a gecko running up a wall or a hummingbird hovering in air.
Continued…
Posted in productivity.
Tagged with design, problem-solving, productivity, random, tips, tools.
By Sunil
– 2009-06-19
On June 6th, 1944, approximately a 150,000 soldiers poured out of boats and through the meat-grinder of German defenses on the beaches of France in a somewhat desperate attempt to turn back the tide of oppression, fascism and all those other things that some truly bad people were trying to push on the rest of the world.
That operation was called D-Day, and since then the name has lived on as a moniker for a day of decisive action. But other than that I had no idea what it was called D-Day, so I started looking things up. Here’s what I learned:
- There’s a startling consensus of online references that there’s no conclusive explanation of why they referred to the invasion date as “D-Day.”
- Second, this hasn’t seemed to stop anybody from making guesses.
Continued…
Posted in asked.
Tagged with history, misc, random.
By Sunil
– 2009-06-10
I’ve been working at this client site for 6 out of the last 10 years. I have sampled the available cuisine in walking distance and the places we usually drive to are tasty grease pits that I just don’t want to eat at anymore. These days I’m almost willing to skip lunch just for the relief from the choices I’ve got. So I decided to try to find a nutritional option akin to the breakfast burritos that have been my staple breakfast for the better part of a year.
Today’s experiment, Lentil Salad.
Continued…
Posted in cuisine.
Tagged with food, recipe.
By Sunil
– 2009-05-25
I do. I look at it with frustration. Here’s why:
Posted in me, rants.
Tagged with blogging, life, metablog, rant, writing.
By Sunil
– 2009-05-23
Since setting out as an independent contractor, I’ve been noticing a lot of personal growth. Emotional and spiritual growth, certainly, but the one that’s got me concerned is the physical growth. My most recent travels seem to have expanded my horizons, starting at my diameter.
I’ve tried to find the time and energy to get back to working out. And it’s just not working. I’m too tired. I’m too disinterested. But I’m a problem-solver and this is a web 2.0 world.
Fatboy 2.0
So I’m outsourcing my personal fitness. To me. I’m going to pay myself to do my workouts. If I work out, I get a reward. If I continue to work out, I’ll get more rewards.
Continued…
Posted in life, productivity.
Tagged with budget, creativity, data, design, fitness, life, modelling, problem-solving, productivity, tools.
By Sunil
– 2009-05-04
I thought it would be fun to post the pictures of chocolate goodness I had taken. I’m a photographer, and there is something just sensual about that chocolaty goodness. I didn’t even think to post the recipe, because I was working from a book and I wasn’t sure about how to do it. And more important, the book was in the kitchen and I was in the basement and walking seemed likely to be less comfortable than sitting and just posting more pictures.
(But here’s the picture again, just cause:
)
The recipe for “Molten-center chocolate cupcakes” comes from Everyday Chocolate
Ingredients:
- 4 tbsp soft margarine
- 2 oz / 55g / generous quarter cup superfine sugar
- ss says: granulated + grinder = superfine
- 1 large egg
- 5/8 cup self-rising flour
- internet says: 5/8 cup all-purpose flour + .9 tsp baking powder + 1/3 tsp salt = 5/8 self-rising
- 1 tsp unsweetened cocoa
- 2oz (1 square) semisweet chocolate
Directions (makes 8 cupcakes): (As told by me)
- Carefully chop the square into eights. Reserve any severed fingertips for later reattachment.
- Dump everything else everything not solid chocolate (or fingertip) into a bowl and beat till smooth.
- Put the paper cups into the muffin tray first, fill half way with dough, add a piece of chocolate, and top up.
- Preheat the oven and then bake at 375 for 20 minutes.
- Stand for 2-3 minutes, serve warm. You can dust confectioner’s sugar if you can wait that long.
- Stand over the body of your kill and savour the chocolaty life spilling into your mouth. Optionally howl at the moon or chandelier, as appropriate.
- Yes, I said savour. With a U. Eh?
Notes:
The major discovery that I wish we’d been warned about is that this thing produces batter so thick it’s almost dough. I thought we’d made a mistake when we added everything, and again when we saw how much my poor old egg-beater was whining about the work. We added a bit of milk which was unnecessary.
Also, between the all-purpose flour substitution and the semi-sweet, it was a very dryly chocolate taste. Good moist cupcake, but very not sweet. Loved it.
Posted in cuisine.
Tagged with food, life, recipe.
By Sunil
– 2009-03-24
Sometimes you get the molten-chocolate-centered, chocolate cupcakes.
So I’ve got the cousins over for the tail end of their winter break from school. And after a brutal shopping session discovering that post massive propane explosion in the city’s west end had resulted in the shut down down all the gas station propane filling stations, and the gas station attendant didn’t know how his own tank exchange system works, and…
After a brutal grocery session, it was nice to break out into the kitchen and just cook. And it’s still a remarkable experience to take “the plan” and slice it into a logistically sane set of tasks that I can pass around to various teens. You want a project management lesson, there it is. Skill levels, skill sets, experience, balancing so everybody gets to participate on something non-trivial and of course, getting the job done.
And they are reliably talented. As I let go of the task list, things got a lot less frenetic, and the kids worked magic. All I ended up having to do was work the grill. And we ended up with a dinner of steak, portobello mushrooms with red pepper, pan-fried tomatoes in garlic, baked sweet potato.
And a mouthwatering cupcake for desert.
How was your dinner?
Posted in cuisine, life.
Tagged with food, management, project management.
By Sunil
– 2009-03-20
Another creative project I’m trying to start working on suffers from a serious predation problem. But still, I’ve been trying to sort gummy bears. I finally had to tie the bags and move them to make me stop snacking.
