Diary 2007-10-25

I came back from my vacation only to find out that new sentient life forms have evolved, of their own accord, inside my fridge. Apparently I hadn’t quite finished out everything I had in there before shipping off and now I’ll have to struggle with whatever has grown in there, even if the smell is discouraging…
Have gloves, have spatula; will fight!

While I was away I missed the God Is An Astronaut concert, which happened to have the Allstar Project as an opening act, but at least (thanks to a friend who was lucky enough to go to the show,) I got the Allstar Project’s latest CD —Your Reward… A Bullet— which was released to the stores a couple of days after the show, and it rocks!
Do go over to the Allstar Project’s website and download the free track —Lasers Go Through Monkeys—, it is an excellent demo of the album and a great song to boot.

Yesterday, instead of staying at home and sleeping (like I needed to), I went instead to the Monty Python’s Best Sketches show. Great fun (even if I did feel myself dozing off a couple of times during the performance…)
I am actually quite a Python fan and did know most of the sketches and I confess that I was more than a bit worried about having the whole thing translated and adapted to Portuguese, but in the end it all went rather well and the trust I placed on the person who did the adaptation and on the performing artists payed off rather nicely.

And oh yes, I did make it into episode 81 of the Contrast Podcast, and with Bob Dylan’s “Most of the Time”, no less. Yay! Like I said on the intro, that song’s lyrics are absolutely brilliant, I’m just overjoyed that I got to pick it to be played in the show.

And now back to business as usual, the vacation is over, life goes on, soldier on, and so on and so forth…

Moblogging with popular webapps

A long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away… Erm… Right, OK, a while ago, I talked a bit about moblogging and how I wished the media posts were handled and so on. After that I didn’t really think much about it, but I did keep on doing what I always did as far as posting things “on-the-go” was concerned and thing kept evolving.

Now on my recent foray I used and abused of my mobile phone to do what can only be described as moblogging. Namely, I routinely posted small text snippets into twitter, pictures (taken with my phone’s camera, so the quality is not brilliant, but passable) into flickr and I did not (because my phone’s video capture is rubbish) but could very easily have posted videos to youtube.

All of this I did (or could have done) with MMS messages. The email interface would have given me even more options about what to do with the stuff I posted and how to categorize it, but on a country such as the one I was in I was lucky enough to have GPRS as it was.
And that is precisely the point, when you get to a stage where you have this kind of connectivity on a country such as Morocco, you truly are able to moblog to your heart’s content easily, with a (nowadays) more or less run-of-the mill phone.

The issues I alluded to on the old post are taken care of by default (you just have to use different email addresses for the pictures in order to specify their privacy settings, for example) and many people are now able to understand how to do all of this stuff easily.

If you want you can even use a service such as, for example, ShoZu to make even more sophisticated stuff with your media, but it really is not necessary.

The only thing I couldn’t do so easily was to post to my regular weblog, but that is a result of my decision to use a proprietary platform. If I were using any “normal” blogging platform out there it would be easy as pie to do it too.

Fun stuff.

Morocco, October 2007 - take two

Apparently everything is sorted out and so I’m almost off to Morocco.

This two day delay will only cost us one day of the trip as we’ll be coming back a day later, so not all is lost on that front.

Meanwhile I won’t be posting here, that’s for sure, but I’ll try and put up some pictures and/or even videos (depending on having MMS capabilities, patience and so on).

If I do put anything up, it will be on my Flickr account —the photos— and on my YouTube account —the videos. The video part is highly doubtful, though, and if I do put something on-line it will be recorded on my cell phone, not my DV camera, so you know what to expect.

Diary 2007-10-12

Contrary to what was supposed to happen, I’m still home. Murphy insists on being present and this trip (which has had far too many ups and downs in the planning stages) has now been delayed for a couple of days. Still waiting to see how we’ll manage everything, but I’m not exactly holding my breath. What a mess!

Still, I got to play a little bit of Wii last evening (for the first time) and I did like it a lot, although I must say I’m probably not buying one anyway.

So today I decided to make the most of the extra time I gained and I’ve already sent in my submission to the next episode of the Contrast Podcast, by the theme of “Time”. I chose a song which I really love and I’ll be quite happy if I make it into to episode.

Now to look for something to do tonight. Can’t say I’m thrilled by the prospects, though, (musically-speaking). Movie anyone? :-)

Morocco, October 2007 - getting ready

So here I am, tidying things up at the office, ready to leave on a little vacation down on the Kingdom of Morocco.

There will be little activity here on the site (OK, let’s be honest, there will be no activity whatsoever on the site) until I get back.

I will only leave Friday morning and I’ll be back by Sunday the 22nd and I hope to get a tan, put my sleep back in order (this is the most important part) and maybe even rest. The mind, that is, the body will probably not rest all that much, but that’s OK. :-)

If I’m a good little blogger I may even put up some pictures when I get back…

And now to get out and try to catch a concert before going home. Tomorrow I’ll have to take care of everything I need for the trip, so I’ll have a busy day!

Ter filhos é…

Não posso deixar de transcrever aqui uma frase de um amigo sobre o que é ser pai.

Não tendo experiência própria, não pude deixar de admirar a maneira como ele encara a coisa…

Ter um filho é como ter um projecto de software que corre muito mal,
as specs estão sempre a mudar, e o hardware é trocado a uma
velocidade alucinante. Ter dois, começas com problemas de rede,
protocolos incompativeis e não documentados.

E o tcpdump não funciona.

Massas chinesas com “coisas”

Mais uma receita fácil, para principiantes quase completos (como eu).
Desta vez a receita foi inventada um dia que estava a olhar para o que tinha em casa para fazer o jantar. É rápida de fazer e embora eu liste os ingredientes que utilizei, é muito fácil alterar para incluir o que houver à mão.
Também foi uma óptima maneira de estrear o meu wok novinho em folha! :-) Mas é óbvio que pode ser feito em qualquer outro utensílio do género.

A quantidade que fiz foi para um. Ou melhor, deveria ter sido, mas não se pode dizer que tenha acertado muito bem com as quantidades e acabei por comer por dois!

Ingredientes

• Massa chinesa com ovos
• Cogumelos frescos
• Um ovo
• Toucinho fumado cortado em pedaços
• Óleo de cozinhar (penso que óleo de amendoim será o melhor, mas à falta desse o óleo Fula serviu-me muito bem)

Confecção

Bater um ovo para fritar mais tarde.

Lavar bem os cogumelos e cortá-los em lâminas.

De seguida dar-lhes uma entaladela no wok (esta é uma descoberta recente minha: dar uma entaladela nos cogumelos significa passá-los numa frigideira —ou semelhante—, com algum sal, até eles perderem a sua água), com cuidado para não abusar do sal!

Pôr os cogumelos de parte, deitar algum óleo no wok e deixar aquecer bem.

Fritar um pouco o toucinho fumado, fazendo-o perder um pouco da sua gordura e colocar de lado, junto dos cogumelos (retirando com cuidado de modo e evitar levar óleo junto).

Deitar o ovo no wok e mexer rapidamente, garantindo que ele fica todo “desfeito” em pedaços.

Retirar cuidadosamente os pedaços de ovo (para evitar levar óleo) e colocá-los junto dos cogumelos e do toucinho.

Entretanto (ou depois de tudo o que se fez acima, caso seja muito complicado estar a fazer tudo ao mesmo tempo —eu declaro-me culpado!) ferve-se água suficiente para cobrir toda a massa que se quer fazer e enquanto ela ainda ferve despeja-se por cima das massas.

Espera-se 5 minutos (ou o tempo indicado no pacote, mas geralmente é muito pouco), mexendo com um garfo no final, para ajudar a desembaraçar, até ficarem al dente.

Passado este tempo, escorre-se bem as massas e, enquanto elas escorrem, aquece-se de novo o óleo e coloca-se as “coisas” no wok para fritarem mais um pouco em conjunto (se não se tiver deixado arrefecer muito os ingredientes não é necessário dar muito tempo a esta fritura).

Quando as massas estiverem bem escorridas e as “coisas” quentes no wok, acrescenta-se as massas ao wok e deixa-se fritar (sim, é suposto fritar as massas) mexendo sempre muito bem.

Remexer e misturar o melhor possível, evitando partir a massa toda.

O “truque” de misturar tudo atirando a comida ao ar dá um aspecto de “cromo da cozinha”, é muito giro e ajuda realmente a misturar melhor as coisas, no entanto se por azar se falhar a recepção, pode correr muito mal e dar aso a uma bela noite de limpezas, a tentar lavar o óleo que saltou para todo o lado.

Com o wok a coisa é mais fácil e eu, até hoje, não tenho experiências negativas com esta brincadeira, mas tudo depende da coragem e jeitinho de cada um.

Eu avisei! ;-)

Quando a massa estiver dourada e/ou estivermos fartos de mexer, pode-se acrescentar um pouco de molho de soja (cuidado que o prato já deve ser algo salgado, não abusar deste molho) ou, no meu caso e porque não tinha molho de soja, um pouco de Worcestershire sauce (vulgo “molho inglês”) serviu perfeitamente —como disse no início, isto foi inventado com o que tinha à mão…

Servir.

Comer.

E, se tudo correu bem, o prato deve ficar bem limpo.

Finalmente, para acompanhar eu pessoalmente recomendo um chá forte (pois o sabor destes ingredientes é também bastante forte). No meu caso um Assam bem escuro caiu muito bem.

Todas as fotos podem ser vistas aqui no flickr.

Hemingway

Olha, o Hemingway à tarde é casa de chá. Que fixe! Não fazia ideia.

Como será que a selecção de chás? E os scones, serão bons?

Já tenho missão para um fim-de-semana destes.

Diary 2007-10-07

Last monday I recorded another episode of the Undercover Songs podcast but I didn’t get around to writing up the blog entry and collecting all the links and stuff right away, so I ended up procrastinating it until today! Shame on me… But, anyway, episode 34 is up and while I’m not sure all of the regular listeners will enjoy it (this is a pretty quiet show) I actually like the way it turned out.

Friday I put up the blinds in my kitchen, which means I can now cook at night and the neighbors across the street won’t be able to watch me doing it (and learn all of my culinary s3cretz). Four months into it and I finally get some privacy in my kitchen. Yay!
Now I need to take care of putting in an additional counter, so that I have some decent cooking space and somewhere I can keep the bread toaster and the tea kettle always accessible and I’m all set as far as the kitchen is concerned.

Got my first squash racket yesterday. No need to leech off my friends’ gear anymore (not on that department, at any rate).
Also got a few CDs, including the oldie “Pyramid” by the “Alan Parsons Project” —which I always though was a better album than “Eye In The Sky“— and also something which I’m really looking forward to having the time to explore in greater depth —the three CD set “A Story Of Jazz” by Blue Note. It is now looking like I’ll have the rest of the day to myself (something wis is turning out to be quite rare —not that I’m complaining—) and since I don’t feel like picking up another book (having finished “Kafka On The Shore” just yesterday I’m still “digesting” it) it’ll be either a movie or this CD set.

While I’m on the subject of music, I’m looking for a CD which I can’t find and I was wondering if someone out there can help me out: I’m trying to get my hands on a copy of Rui Veloso’s “Ar De Rock”. Yes, it’s a really old record and while I’m guessing there must have been a CD version launched at one time or another, I can’t seem to find any on sale anywhere. Now the problem is that I must have listened to that record dozens of times, but the LP wasn’t mine and I can’t really remember who it belonged to, so I can’t even track that person down and ask him for it so that I could digitize it.
So if someone knows where I can get a CD (or even if someone has the LP in good condition and wants to sell it) please drop me a line, or leave a comment. I’d love to be able to listen to the whole album again.

Kafka On The Shore by Haruki Murakami

It seems strange to me now, but I’ve only found out about Murakami’s work a few weeks ago. Since then I’ve learned that everybody and his mother has been into it for quite a long time.

But anyway, my first encounter with this author was (as recommended by a friend) with the book Kafka On The Shore.

I usually like to read books in the language they were originally written in but in this case I did have to make an exception (sadly I don’t read japanese at all). but it wasn’t all that bad because as I found out in the mean time, Murakami is not only a writer but also (among many other things he does) he is a translator —especially of novels and literature— and he either translated or oversaw the translation of most (all?) of his novels into english, this one included, I think, so I’m quite sure that what I read was as close to what he wanted to write as possible (given that you can never have a perfect match, of course).

So what’s the book like?
Well, I can definitely see why there are so many people who love it. The story is interesting, with a really great pace and easy to follow. Up to a point.

Of course there are some things which are quite alien to me because of culture differences, but those don’t really bother or take back from the pleasure of reading the book —quite the contrary.

So I liked the overall experience and read up the whole thing rather fast.

My only complain is that the very ending feels rather rushed-through, as if he somehow got to a point where he just had to finish up the book in a set number of pages and since he had gotten carried away before, he was now pressed for time and space and had to quicken up the pace quite a bit and also leave a few loose strands that never got quite tied up.
It felt like finishing up the story was a bit of a rush job and I was expecting a few things to fall into place which didn’t and I also felt like a few other elements were introduced right before the last chapters that could —and should— have been explored a bit further, but that just got lost in the rush to close everything up.
Of course, I might just be needing to read it again and see how the pieces fall together now —something that the author recommends doing anyway. Maybe I will do it someday and update these musings then…

In the end I found it a pretty entertaining read. It is not heavy reading or full-blown “serious” literature, but it is a good book that guarantees a few good hours of quite pleasurable entertainment.

Author: Haruki Murakami
Book: Kafka On The Shore

Diary 2007-10-02

Lately I’ve been honing my (or should I say picking up some) m4d c00king skilz.
Just last evening I cooked myself a nice bacon, mushroom and black olive quiche. And it was not bad really, just a bit on the overstuffed side (I knew I should have listened to what my friend said about the quantity of eggs and cream to use, she knows what she’s talking about, but it just seemed so little when it was still uncooked…) and murderous on the cholesterol count, but rather nice on the tasting department. So that’s one to go for again, next time using less eggs and maybe replacing the dairy cream with soy cream.
I’ve been slowly porting my old wiki to this site and since I’ve recently brought the recipes into the notebook section, I guess I’ll start putting some of the stuff I like to cook best on-line (in Portuguese, though, I don’t think it make much sense to take notes on recipes on a language other than the one I’ll be buying my ingredients in).

One thing that’s been happening that has made me really happy is that I’ve finally started to read again.
I’ve taken up some real, honest-to-god novels and I found myself engrossed by them to the point of forgetting myself and loosing huge chunks of the day/evening, reading away to my heart’s content, just as it should be.
For quite some time now I haven’t been able to immerse myself in the books I read the way I usually do and I was sorely missing it (as much as I love short stories, I was getting rather tired of reading nothing else) and it feels really good to be able to live all those stories once again.
Now to make up for all this time and get that “to-read” pile back to an acceptable size (that pile, by the way, comprises mostly books I’ve never read, if I throw in the must-re-reads it gets much more interesting).

On a not so bright (relatively speaking) note, it turns out I’m not going to attend the God Is An Astronaut concert this month. But at least it will be for a good cause, as I’ll (finally) be taking some time off and going on a small trip, getting some vacation time away from everything —to the point where I’m not even sure I’ll have any kind of GSM coverage at all for most of the time.
I’m still feeling a bit lost (OK, a lot lost) so I may just as well get really lost in a new place to try and match things up a bit. :-)
I’ll probably have more to tell about this upcoming road-trip later on, but for now that’ll do.

So… Is it really impossible to fast-forward a couple of years in our lives?
What about just one then?
Six months?
No?
Really, no chance at all?
Rats!