navigation
good reads
internet stuff
- evolt is the best web community out there.
- listen to joel. he knows.
- Cluetrain Manifesto
- A List Apart
- Ask Tog
- Making a Commercial Case for Adopting Web Standards
Yesterday we had a fabulous dinner party to celebrate my favourite holiday - Trout Thursday. I blogged the rather improvised Trout Thursday we had last year and vowed that in 2004 I'd have friends over and celebrate properly. I also swore I'd have a proper dining room and kitchen. At least I've got a dining room. I don't have a proper kitchen - but in a few minutes we're going to go to Home Despot and order one (I'm not joking - we really are) - so it should be here in 10 weeks or so.
In any case, I didn't find trout as easily as Dieter Limeback or Paul Cowan seemed to. I had to go to 6 fish shops and travel halfway across the city before I found some gorgeous Rainbow Trout fillets. I bought 4. More fish than I've ever bought at one time. Ever.
The almost fruitless search for fish was the beginning of the disasters. I forgot to buy some crucial ingredients. I couldn't find half the placemats or napkins that we'd got as wedding gifts, and had to get Dave to rush over to my mom and dad's to borrow some at the last minute. We ran out of aluminum foil so I couldn't make the trout en papillote and had to make it in a giant turkey roasting pan. I ruined the first batch of caramel that I tried to make... and on and on and on. Luckily, it turned out delicious - even though the trout was a little over done.
The menu?
Homemade creamy tomato soup
Tangerine and mixed greens with orange dressing
Roast rainbow trout in red wine and shallots, with mashed potatoes and asparagus
Mascarpone and mixed berries in caramel (yummy!)
The best part was the company. There were eight of us: Rebecca Tierney-Hynes (my BFF), Sarah Loosemore (her partner), Julia (my sister), Bruce (our bestman), Emma Jane Hogbin and Graig (her partner), and my hubbie, Dave. They're all Good People - as Emma says ;-) - and there were lots of laughs. Check out all the Trout Thursday photos we took.
I'd highly recommend celebrating Trout Thursday. We'll do it again with more friends in 2005 when we will *definitely* have our proper kitchen!
Posted by Me @ 03:41PM [Link]
Mr. Modest is up for a bloggie this year. The man has been blogging for only a few months and look at this! he's already got a million readers and lots of comments and now awards! Nope, I'm not jealous at all... nope... not even a smidgen...
But really... can't he at least be proud of himself for his achievements? There's only a few days left of voting and all he's put on his blog about it is a little link buried under a bunch of other stuff. I didn't even see it - and I'm a loyal reader. So you know... If I were up for a bloggie, I'd be shouting it from the rooftops. Something like this seems about right:
So go! Now! Don't Delay! Vote for 1976design.com - Our Man Dunstan! - for the best programming of a website. Voting closes January 31, 2004 at 10:00PM EST.
You know having such talented people around makes me feel inspired and despairing all at the same time. Why can't I be as good as they are? (probably because Dunstan is obsessed with his blog). Maybe some will rub off on me.
Oh well. Go vote. All two of you dear readers could make that extra bit of difference!
Oh and btw Dunstan, you can swipe my nice animation if you'd like. I wouldn't mind ;-).
Posted by Me @ 11:11AM [Link]
So it's snowing.
Yes yes. I know it's supposed to snow in winter. But I really wish it wouldn't. At least most of the time I wish it wouldn't. Sometimes though, the snow is just perfect. The right balance of cold and cool, dry and wet, hard and soft... and it's fun snow. This is the only time that winter is good. There's a huge quantity of white, fluffy playing material. Fun for sculpting, building, throwing, smashing, smushing and beautiful when it lands on things and sticks to them.
And really, who could blame me for procrastinating the shovelling part and stopping for a bit of fun? We all need to get in touch with our inner child sometimes... Of course, some of us are a little too in touch... but... La la la! I can't hear you with my fingers in my ears.
Oh, and by the way, my gal over on the left needs a name. I was thinking Bertha. What do you think?. There's more photos of her so that you can get a sense of her true nature before naming her. ;-) She's still in the backyard and given the forcast, it looks like she'll be there for awhile. At least until some creep comes and knocks her down.
Posted by Me @ 11:12AM [Link]
This Magazine, veteran of the lefty mag press, has written some interesting and informative articles about copyright from a Canadian perspective.
Copyright is, by definition, designed to give the right to the expression of an idea to a single copyright holder. But whatever is copyrightable is simultaneously protected by section 2(b) of the Charter of Rights and Freedoms, which guarantees every Canadian “freedom of thought, belief, opinion, and expression, including freedom of the press and other media of communication.” Nothing in the Charter suggests that section 2(b) does not apply if an expression has previously been published by someone else.
To make the point as clearly as possible: If someone holds a copyright to a certain work, they can prevent you from making use of that expression in various ways. Copyright takes certain forms of expression off the market, so to speak. And that would appear to violate your constitutional rights.
One of the articles talks about digital copying of music and the idiocy of independent musicians trying to stop it instead of encouraging the copying of their music.
...internet conduits offering unmediated connections between cultural producers and a potential audience are actually a giant step forward, a way to take culture out of the capitalist system and return it to the community where it belongs.
Altogether a very interesting set of articles. Check them out.
Posted by Me @ 12:28PM [Link]
How bad is Bush? These ads tell it all in 30 seconds or less. Amazing.
http://www.bushin30seconds.org
Posted by Me @ 10:59AM [Link]