my tweets skh:tec
As quoted from David Pogue:
‘Software version numbers are pure marketing concoction. The upgrade from System 7 to System 7.5, for example, was a baby step compared to the leap from 7.5 to 8.0. If anything, it’s the tiny increases that really count, because that’s when a program goes from “4.0″ buggy to “4.0.1″ usable.
Of course, then there’s the numbering leap from Word 6 to Word 98. That one seems about right.’
Last Friday night, on the Brooklyn Bridge, in the rain (sounds like the answer to Clue, doesn’t it?) I officially asked my girlfriend to marry me.
Me living in Singapore means that’ll not be as soon as either of us would prefer, but at least it’s in the works. 
She told me the rest of the night was a blur, which is probably just as well since it sheeted water on us for the couple blocks back to the hotel, so we were thoroughgoingly drenched by the time we got there.
Anyways, that’s my fun news for the year
I arrived in Singapore during the Great Singapore Sale, or GSS. It’s advertised everywhere. It’s the one time of year when [nearly] every store, restaurant, service provider, etc offers big discounts for shoppers.
In Plaza Singapura, the mall next to where I work, they’ve been having different vendors taking-over the concourse area on the first floor every week.
This week it’s one of their anchors, Carrefour (the French hypermart chain). They have all sorts of stuff – most of which you can also get inside the Carrefour store, but of course it’s more fun to browse out in the open.
In the refrigerated container area I saw something I never thought I’d see in my life. They had fruit for sale.
Specifically, they had fruit from Japan for sale. One of them was S$199. That’s about $125 US.
It’s a watermelon.
Yep.
That summer stand-by: the watermelon.
Course, these are square and grown in Japan, and stack nicely.
But really? Two hundred dollars for a watermelon?
As I write this post, I’m surrounded with the sounds of a live musician and dozens of patrons. The wooden floors, open-frame ceiling, bus lights, and comfortable chairs surrounding glass-topped tables adds to the ambiance. Chanda just refilled my dad’s iced tea. And my dessert (my favorite drink) is en route shortly.
Last night who would’ve guessed that clicking the “pubs” option on my GPS would put us at such a place. Usually the GPS options aren’t obviously good. (Certainly it can find places I already know of.)
After driving from Durham NC to Jacksonville FL Monday, and then to the Kennedy Space Center on Tuesday, my dad and I were looking for some place local. Some place with modest prices, and, hopefully, and interesting beer selection. So for kicks, while we were tolling across central Florida on I-4, I punched-up restaurants -> pubs -> Tanner’s on the GPS. It was simply the closest location to where we were when we decided we were hungry.
What a choice it has turned out to be. Tuesday night I ordered their chicken piccata. Let me warn you: they put crack in their sauce. They must. It’s the only reason I can come up with for wanting to finish what was obviously too much food!
My dad ordered pork chops. I don’t like chops at all, but I was tempted to steal a little off his plate. After dinner we split their chocolate lava cake – and should have passed. It is the richest dessert I’ve had in months!
While we sat letting dinner settle, I checked for where our hotel was, not knowing the town we were in (Winter Haven). Turns out that our reservations were just down the road – literally less than a mile from Tanner’s. How serendipitous.
After we started dinner, we independently decided we’d come back Wednesday after going to Sun ‘n Fun in Lakeland – the whole reason we’re in Florida to start with.
So tonight we came back. And we’ve migrated to other menu choices – since the first two were so good, why not try something new? Tonight I was in a seafood mood, and ordered their blackened mahi mahi, while my dad got the tornadous oscar – angus slices with asparagus, hollandaise, and crab meat.
Two dinners in a row we couldn’t finish fast enough. An impressive feat indeed for a place we found off the GPS’ restaurant list.
It’ll be a little saddening when we have to leave 325 W Central Avenue tonight, because we’ll be heading back north tomorrow, and probably won’t be able to come back till we’re next in Florida – whenever that may be. But I know the next time I’m anywhere close, I’ll be back.
My family moved into Cohoes in 1993. Shortly after moving in, we noticed a small pub up the road and have threatened to go eat there ever since.
Monday night we finally did. Admittedly, it wasn’t our first choice – we had been planning to hit-up another local place in Cohoes recommended to us by the Sunday bar tender at Uno’s in Latham, but The Pub and Grille was open – and we were hungry.
It’s gone a by a few names in the past, perhaps most famously “Maggie’s”. One surprising thing my parents, sister, and I noticed on entry was how small it is inside. Officially it can hold 35 people.
After taking a moderately long walk in the very windy and chilly weather to find Joe’s closed, and then walking back towards the house we arrived at 201 Columbia St around 8 in the evening. There were maybe five customers other than us – but it being a Monday night, that wasn’t surprising. We found a table in the back, and Kim scurried out from behind the bar to hand us menus, silverware, and take our drink orders.
The menu is simple – I like that in a pub. While it does use both sides of the laminated sheet of paper, the font is large, easily readable, and offers about a dozen items.
My sister ordered their mild wings, which she was very happy with. My mom, dad, and I all ordered burgers. We also got their smothered cheese fries to share, and I got an order of chicken tenders in their atomic sauce to both have there and bring home for later. The only goof in the order was with my dad’s burger, which didn’t have the cheese or bacon he’d requested, but did have onions which he hadn’t. However, Kim got that fixed in just a couple minutes, and we were back to enjoying our respective meals.
Currently their beer selection is pretty limited – Sam Adams, Bud, and something else on tap, and a couple in bottles. However, as good fortune would have it, Monday also saw a local beer distributor showing up for a small staff tasting and discussion of craft beers.
We sat around visiting, eating, and just generally enjoying the evening for about an hour and a half before my parents and sister decided to head the 4 blocks back to their house.
Meanwhile, because I wanted to stay and have a couple more drinks, I introduced myself to the group sampling the various craft beers that had been brought by the distributor, and was invited to take part – yahoo! free beer!
Available for tasting for a strawberry brew (way too sweet in my book, but similar to a Lindeman’s Cassis or Framboise for consistency), various hoppy ales, a couple browns, and a black – among others I don’t recall now. The best part of trying small samples of the different beers brought wasn’t, in fact, that they were free, but that most were made in the general vicinity – ie, the northeast and mid-Atlantic states. I’m a sucker for local brews when they’re available.
The Pub and Grille doesn’t have a set closing time, per se. It might be as early as 11p, or as late 3:30a – it depends on how many folks are there wanting to buy beverages. A little before 11 Monday night, Kim was about to make a last call to the bar when three new folks sauntered-in. Never one to pass-up a customer, the place ended being open till nearly 1:30.
For beer heads, the Pub and Grille isn’t yet a place to go for a good selection of brews, but it will be in a couple weeks as they add a whole series of craft brews to the menu.
If you’re looking for a nice, small, friendly place to hang out, has good food, and good atmosphere (literally – this is NY state were talking about), especially if you want to be able to walk home if you’ve maybe had one too many, this place should make the list of anybody in Cohoes.
My friend Chris has been bragging-up Man of Kent in Hoosick Falls for months. So on this foray to the Great White North (aka ‘home’), we decided to go out for the evening.
They’re located at 4452 Route 7 in Hoosick Falls, on the south side of the road, about 20ish minutes outside of Troy.
Their menu has top-notch pub food, with most ingredients sourced locally. They don’t have a huge on-tap selection – maybe 10ish – but they have scores of bottled beers to pick from if the draught ones aren’t good enough.
Chris had a portobello panini and hot wings, while I enjoyed their chicken soup and mac & cheese. We met the owner, one of the waitresses (Chelsea), and two pub regulars. The owner, waitress, and pub regulars were all pleasant to talk to, and all bragged-up the establishment. It’s not ultra close to my parents’ place, but worth the ride out for atmosphere, food, and good drinks.
Last year I went to the Beer and Bourbon Festival at Koka Booth in Cary. My buddy Jeremy and I had an absolute blast.
They’re bringing it back this year in August again, and I’m planning to go again. There are some other shows before and after in the southeast, but the one in Cary is the closest.
If you’re a fan of trying new whiskys, sampling different brews, and maybe grabbing some varied bbq styles, you should consider a trip out.
If you don’t drink (or prefer to have the cheaper ticket), they have a Designated Driver ticket that only grants admission – no beer or bourbon sampling.
The barbecue isn’t part of the all-you-can-enjoy, but it’s priced very reasonably.
This week I made a batch of applesauce from the macintoshes I had in my fridge before they went bad.
While it tasted pretty good (if I do say so myself), I much preferred the batch from over Christmas made with Northern Spies. The Northern Spy is my favorite apple – great in pies, sauce, fried apples, cobbler, and out-of-hand.
Basic applesauce recipe:
* I don’t always add sugar – for sweeter apples this is certainly not a requirement.
Certainly you’ve all seen Chuck Norris Facts.
And some of you who may be on Stackoverflow have seen Jon Skeet Facts.
But have you seen Bruce Schneier Facts?
“The nuclear launch codes held by the President of the United States are secured by an unbreakable system: a plain brown envelope with a picture of Bruce Schneier on the flap.” “Bruce Schneier doesn’t have a chin under his beard – just more ciphertext.” “Bruce Schneier once broke AES using nothing but six feet of rusty barbed wire, a toothpick, and the front axle from a 1962 Ford Falcon.”
Ahh, the joys of memes.
So I write this note to tell you of my plight
At the time of writing I am not a pretty sight
My body is all black and blue, my face a deathly gray
So I write this note to say why Paddy’s not at work today
While working on the fourteenth floor, some bricks I had to clear
And to throw them down from off the top seemed quite a good idea
But the gaffer wasn’t very pleased, he was an awful sod
He said I had to cart them down the ladder in me hod.
To clear away those bricks by hand, to me seemed very slow
So I hoisted up a barrel and secured the rope below
But in my haste to do the job, I was too blind to see
That a barrel full of building bricks is heavier than me.
So when I untied the rope, the barrel fell like lead
And clinging tightly to the rope I started up instead
I shot up like a rocket and to my dismay I found
That half way up I met the bloody barrel coming down.
Well the barrel broke my shoulder as towards the ground it sped
And when I reached the top I banged the pulley with me head
I held on tight, though numb with shock from this almighty blow
While the barrel spilled out half its bricks fourteen floors below
Now when those building bricks fell from the barrel to the floor
I then outweighed the barrel and I started down once more
I held on tightly to the rope as I flew to the ground
And I landed on the broken bricks that were scattered all around.
Now as I lay there on the deck I thought I’d passed the worst
But when the barrel reached the top, that’s when the bottom burst
A shower of bricks rained down on me, I didn’t have no hope
And in all of this confusion, I let go the bloody rope.
The barrel again being heavier, it started down once more
And landed right on top of me as I lay on the floor
It broke three ribs and my left arm, and I can only say
That I hope you’ll understand why Paddy’s not at work today.
