Off I go...

Heading off early tomorrow morning for book-club getaway weekend in Evart. Should be good and cold up there, too - I bet I'll be able to see my breath in the morning.

We always each bring something to eat for book club, and this time I'm bringing Mexican black bean salsa salad, for which I spent almost two hours cutting up vegetables this evening. I am v-e-r-y s-l-o-w at cutting up vegetables, especially if the recipe says "diced," which always makes me think, "Hmm, maybe I'd better see if I can get these tiny bits even tinier..."

I've never made anything like this before, mixing up the "vinaigrette" and everything. We'll see how it goes. I'm not even sure I'd know if it was any good. I haven't eaten much in the way of black bean salsa salads. But the book we read was set in Arizona, and we're doing a taco bar, so I thought I'd try it.

In other news, I found a way to dampen down the din of the two blaring televisions at the laundromat this evening. Simply load Beethoven's seventh symphony to your iPod and blast it at top volume into your ears while your clothes are doing their thing. This glorious plan even blocked out the sitcom laugh tracks... that's the noise that usually sets my teeth on edge when I do laundry. Just try not to conduct during the exciting parts! You'll look like an idiot.

Actually, the wildly creative French DJ group Birdy Nam Nam has excellent TV noise-blocking properties, too. I tried them last week at the laundromat and they passed with flying colors.

Rectangles and slippers

The mystery thickens around the case of the black rectangle. Scott noticed that it comes up more frequently when there's a scrolling text banner at the bottom of the screen of the channel you're watching, so we think it means the TV thinks it's being communicated to. Basically, the black rectangle is its way of saying, "V-ger requires the information!"

However, things are further complicated by the fact that it came up while we were watching a DVD with the subtitles on: suddenly, there was the rectangle, and the subtitles were appearing inside it!

I did find something online suggesting that we accidentally punched the right buttons on the remote for the TV to go into programming mode, and the way around that is to unplug it for four hours to let it reset.

We'll try that.

Now let me exult about the weather for a moment. I woke up cold! Not just chilly! It feels like late October. I may have to extract the goosedown dyne from the back of the closet. Visions of jack-o'-lanterns dance in my head. I find myself dreaming of hearty CrockPot roasts and bowls of chunky stew. I dug out my toasty slippers when I got up and popped my icy feet happily into them. The cat was peeping pathetically in a very particular "Hey, it's cold!" kind of way when I got downstairs, too. Fall! Glorious fall.

Bring it on, I say.

May summer and its sweaty misery die an early death this year.

Update: I am updating this post several months later because I'm seeing several people hitting my blog via a Google search for what to do about the black rectangle on their TV screens. Answer: Your caption setting is on Text1 or Text2! Grab your remote, hit Menu, deselect the Text1 or Text2 caption setting, and you'll be rectangle-free. At least I was. Good luck!

The Curse of the Black Rectangle

My beautiful and beloved flat-screen TV doesn't love me any more. Not always, anyway.

Last night was fine. Watched three solid hours of 9/11 programming without a hitch - I got sucked in when I saw all that familiar footage, marveling that those events actually happened and changed the world the way they did.

But this morning, forget about waking up with coffee and morning television! (All for the best, really, but that's not the point.)

So what's happening? Well, recently, a huge black rectangle will sometimes appear across the entire lower part of the screen, essentially making the channel impossible to watch. Changing the channel helps, but eventually it appears there, too (sometimes). Changing volume continuously up and down works, but it's exhausting on the ol' thumb!

What is it? Why is it there? What does it want?

Must scour Google today to see what I can find out.

Update: I am updating this post several months later because I'm seeing several people hitting my blog via a Google search for what to do about the black rectangle on their TV screens. Answer: Your caption setting is on Text1 or Text2! Grab your remote, hit Menu, deselect the Text1 or Text2 caption setting, and you'll be rectangle-free. At least I was. Good luck!

I have a new mouse!

A couple of weeks ago, I started noticing increased pain in my right index finger. It hurt to bend it, and there seemed to be actual swelling at the lower finger joint. I was really worried, but luckily the worst of the pain was on a Friday and the swelling and pain had dissipated by Monday.

But the pain's creeping back now, and I find that I'm substituting my left index finger for tasks like pushing down on a hairspray bottle, where I need a certain amount of force. This is not good. Worse, I find that at the end of a day of very focused work at my mouse and computer, the finger stiffens up again.

I asked my dad about it. His e-mailed advice: It's no big deal - it's called "click-happy finger" from punching keyboards and clicking on the mouse for about a million times a day (no kidding!). Go to your doctor and all he has to do is make a little incision on a tendon, and you'll be O.K. again.

Ack! No incisions, please!!

I asked my mother-in-law. Her advice: "It's arthritis. Take Advil."

Ack! Arthritis?! Surely not! And why would it only be on the one finger?

But now, I believe my troubles are at an end.

Why?

Because I have requested and received a VerticalMouse at work!

It took me less than five minutes to get used to using it. It's so comfortable to use. My hand is in its usual mousing position, just sideways, in a sort of handshake position. The fingers barely move, and my arm (not my wrist!) does all the work.

I'm loving it.

We'll see how the finger situation goes.

Not a bad walk after all

Well, this morning I got off at the new bus stop at Ellsworth and State and walked to work from there. Yeah, I arrived all sweaty, but the walk itself really wasn't bad, especially with my iPod Shuffle to keep me company. Here's what it picked for me:

Fiamma Fumana - Balla!
Sleeper - Statuesque
The Cottars - Pat Works on the Railway
Janelle Monae - Lettin' Go

I applaud the infinitessimally tiny DJ inside my Shuffle. Plus it was just starting in on Kristy MacColl's On the Beach when I came up the hill behind work, and to my astonishment I almost wished I had a little longer to go.

Of course, let's see what I say when my nose gets frostbite on that walk in a couple of months.

But by then, of course, I'll be driving a car.

Hey! A blog makeover!

Well, looky that - I picked out a new template and added a couple of things.

I find Twitter amazingly silly, but I am absentminded and I thought it might be a good reminder system... so ignore any messages like "Remember cat food" or something that may appear under Twitter Updates! We'll see how it goes. Maybe it won't work. Or maybe I'll really just start reporting on the minutiae of my life. "Eating a bowl of cereal." "Those Geico commercials are a hoot." "Where's the cat?" "Oh, no! Out of toilet paper!"

Plus I like having links to my beloved Pandora stations and my new Funtrivia game in one convenient spot.

And who knows, maybe I'll blog more often after all this fancy renovation. :-)

Mmmm! Delectable!

Last night, I made the easiest, most delicious thing in the CrockPot.

Just get out there and invest in some Emeril's Chicken Rub (it's got basil, oregano, paprika, crushed red pepper, and a few other spices).

Buy three or four pounds of chicken parts with bone and skin still on. Wash and dry it all. Coat it with the chicken rub. Roll up two or largish three balls of aluminum foil and stick 'em in the bottom of the CrockPot. Put the chicken parts on top of 'em. Leave it on "Low" for eight hours.

The chicken basically just sits on the aluminum foil balls and roasts all day.

I am telling you, it comes all all moist and flavorful and fabulous beyond measure. All the fat collects around the aluminum foil balls and all the good stuff stays put.

We had rice and steamed vegetables with it and I felt as though I was living the life of Riley.

Plus it makes for an amazing chicken sandwich the next day. I just had one for lunch. :-)