I discovered Pixlr while looking for free/open-source tools. It’s great. I want to say wonderful things about it. It doesn’t do what I need for the Utopia project, but for a free, web-based, browser-operated photo editor it’s really, really good. 3 days ago
I’ve been slowly pottering along on this. I’ve got the Latin half of the book pretty tidied up. The heading graphics are done (I think) and in place. I just need to pinch them around a bit and do the same to the English side. Then to balance the pages so that they more or less match.
But my idea is this: if you’re familiar with the Loeb or I Tatti books, you’ll know my concept. English on the left-hand side, original language on the right. That way any person who wants has access—though perhaps not a full understanding—of the original text. So many classic works are available only in English. The Prince? No Italian for you. Candide? No French for you. Well, this is all fixable. Fixable with free and open-source tools. I think. 4 days ago
You’re right. I’ve just got to find my center and move ahead. I’m not at all sure what that will be, but you’re absolutely right about not reacting out of fear or anger. If they did that much good, angry young men would have solved a good deal more problems than they have. 2 weeks ago
I’ve been accused of some serious financial malfeasance. I won’t get into the details other than to say it’s not a legal problem of the go-to-jail variety. Or even the sort that should ruffle a potential employer’s feathers. It’s far closer to home.
I’m really angered by the whole thing. Hugely angry. I’m bewildered and perplexed about what I ought to do next. 2 weeks ago
I could probably speed this process up considerably if I just used the file I’ve already got prepared. But I’m not, because I’m exploring new tools. I’ve got the Latin text halfway—really a lot less than it sounds like. But I’ve found out some nifty things about OpenOffice. You can make a running document that is only left pages, so that’s nice.
Now if only I could get the same results with Google Docs. I really like the idea of my documents being free of an application. This isn’t to say that Google is perfect: far from it. But it will free me from software updates to a degree.
The down side to all of this foolery with word processing rather than typesetting is that the results don’t look anywhere near as good. Scribus is a piece of crap for anything of book length. LaTeX is gorgeous but has a fierce learning curve (and isn’t GUI). Quark and InDesign are wonderful, but I want to avoid them. The options suck. 2 weeks ago
24 hours from now, I’ll be done with my third semester and five of the twelve classes I need to graduate. All five classes are requirements, which means I’ve only got two of those to go.
Next up? Vocabulary acquisition. When? This summer. 3 weeks ago
It was really good. I sauteed a sweet onion with mushrooms. Add in a bit of home-cured ham, garlic, herbs de Provence and balsamic vinegar to finish it off. Kind of a put it together on the fly sort of dish. 3 weeks ago
I am someone who doesn’t appreciate being interrupted. Work happens as it happens: and its timetable doesn’t necessarily fit the outside world’s timetable. As a result, I feel like I’m always being rushed and shunted from this to that willy nilly.
And the upshot is that I feel like I can’t get anything major done. 1 month ago
School has ramped up the serious work. I have no time for anything that isn’t absolutely required of me (and tracking my goals so I do what I want to do is one of those absolute requirements). 1 month ago
There are a few. The problem is that I don’t really like them, so I don’t talk to them much. But I suppose that’s a different problem. 1 month ago
I didn’t quite get this right. I bought the right cheese from the store. I followed a recipe from the internet. Then I used old brandy. And that, I suspect, is the flawed step. Much of the alcohol had evaporated over the last few years it had been sitting in the cupboard. I guess that’s life. The cheese did get melty, just not from the flames—and that is probably how it is supposed to work.
Opa! 2 months ago
1. Work full-time for 2 of the next 5 years.
2. Graduate with M.A. by end of 2014.
3. Pay of wife’s student debt.
More to come as necessary. 2 months ago
Right now large pieces of my life are what I want, I want to make sure of two things. 1. It stays that way. 2. I can make some of the medium-sized pieces of my life be what they are. So to keep on track for the really big stuff, I need a five=year plan. 2 months ago
I do believe I’ll have a slot in the school’s upcoming student research symposium. 2 months ago
I’ve got both of the texts. I’ve divided up the paragraphs so I can keep them parallel to each other from page to page—more or less. If I were a bit more smooth, I’d be able to get this set up pretty quickly. But page layout software is a problem. Not that I don’t know how to operate it: I do. But I’m looking to avoid having a current version suddenly no longer be compatible with a future version. This is a problem I don’t want to have, but I’ve seen it happen a few times since the 90s. 2 months ago
I’m not all that old, but my youth is gone. I’ve got a bit of gray hair on my face. Waking up takes a minute to get calibrated. My eyes aren’t as good in low light. No more all-nighters. No more benders. No more orgies. And I can’t say it upsets me.
My moods feel more even, though this isn’t to say they’re always good. But if I can get to a good space, I can usually stay there. I feel like I’ve seen enough to make better, more nuanced choices about life. I am seeing why this part of life is call the prime of life. (Though I suppose I’ll look back on how I feel now and think, “Hah! How little I knew then.” As that seems to be the course of life.) 2 months ago
I went into school last week to talk to my advisor. We talked about the sorts of things I’m interested in—second language acquisition, as I think it’s the part of linguistics where one might be able to make some money.
We plotted out a course of electives to take. We talked about the nature of the thesis. We talked about PhD programs, but I don’t know about that at this point.
I think this is going to be pretty straightforward. 3 months ago
An old favorite of mine is kefta. I suppose it might be cheating to put one of those cook-by-feel recipes into the “cook 43 different dishes” list. But here it is.
No picture this time, because I didn’t. I don’t know why. I just didn’t. Here’s how to do it:
1. Put about a pound of ground lamb in a bowl.
2. Dump in a good amount, maybe 1/2 a cup of bread crumbs. I use the pre-seasoned crumbs to skip adding salt and some spices. Add an egg.
3. Add a generous amount of cumin and cinnamon. Maybe a spoonful. Grate in 1/2 a nutmeg, or 1/4 spoonful if you don’t have fresh. Coriander and allspice are good too, but I really love the cinnamon. Some finely chopped cilantro, grated onion or crushed garlic is also good.
4. Knead it all together. If dry, add another egg. (And I suppose really traditional kefta doesn’t have egg in it, but I find it’s easier to work with that way.)
5. Pinch off meat ball sized bits and shape them into patties in your hands. Mine usually wind up looking like little rugby balls made of meat.
6. Fry in their own fat until done.
7. Drain on a paper towel when done. 3 months ago
I somewhat wonder if that roller coaster isn’t just how middle life works. 3 months ago
I wish I knew how to stop my life from feeling like a slow-motion crash. There are so many parts to it that are wonderful and that I wouldn’t change. But at the exact same time, those parts are highly stressful. I feel like I’m caught in a trap of my own making. 3 months ago
I made these and it wasn’t worth the effort. I guess that’s life. 3 months ago
This time we moved the action up to Saturday. Since shrimp cook quick, I took the picture when they were partially cooked.
Learning how to use the stove-top grill will take some getting used to. I suspect the biggest missing tool is some sort of weight to press down on whatever I’m grilling. 3 months ago
Another Sunday, another super fabulous dish that can’t be bought within 20 miles of here (possibly as much as 40 miles).
Lamb braised in butter and water with rice, dried apricots and pistachios added in for the last bit of cooking. Another awesome dish that we enjoyed that the kids rejected out of hand. 3 months ago
No. We’ve got some cookbooks knocking about here. So I’m making use of them. Or googling my ingredients on-hand. 3 months ago
This task is ugly, but slowly eroding. The nice thing is that the further into this I go, the fewer completely new words I have to deal with. I’d guess I’m about 30% done with this portion of it, which is probably the most tedious part. 3 months ago
