From the turkey and stuffing to all of the fixin's... Who's cooking your Thanksgiving dinner this year? What dish are you most looking forward to?
See also QotD: Talking Turkey; as I said before, cooking responsibilities are being shared by most all those who dine.
I just put the custard in pumpkin shell into the oven. Princess Thunderstorm (my wife) has started her pies-- a mixed berry, a pumpkin, and an apple pie each-- and has had to make crusts from scratch because, unfortunately, the crust mix got weevils. Trinity (my sister-in-law) is contributing to the hors d'oeuvre tray, if I remember right. Leslie (my mother-in-law) is taking care of the turkey and that which immediately comes with it.
I am also bringing Klaussen half-sour pickles, and will try to make that sweet potato gnocchi Purplesque shared if there's time in the morning. There is a possibility there might not be time, but since I did get sweet potatoes, it will be made eventually, perhaps for the feast at my parents' house on Friday. I did not get a rutabaga, so the mashed rutabaga will not be on the table; I suspect most of the other "kids" might actually cheer on the inside once they find out (I like it, Cimmy likes it, but I don't think any of the rest of them do).
I am looking forward to all the dishes as there is an element of surprise this year. My in-laws are fairly traditional, but the fact that the "kids" are all contributing upon the suggestion of one of my brothers-in-law practically dictates that there will be surprises, and although my mother-in-law asked for a list from everyone, I think that yes, I do think "surprises" will be literal in some aspects.
So it's not Monday. Better a day late than never, and it's been a long while.
Sometimes mashups are less than innovative and original-- that is, they aren't a mix of two obviously different songs you wouldn't expect to go together. Sometimes a mashup or bastard pop artist will go back to a tune that's influenced a particular song, and use it as the mashed backup track. Such is the case here:
With so much information on the Web, how do you stay organized online?
A good part of my organization is done offline, actually.
My wife uses a PDA to keep our appointments organized, to store contact information, and for reminder alerts. As soon as I could figure out gnome-pilot (like HotSync but open source), I synchronized that information to the desktop here and now I get those reminder alerts, too.
I use Tomboy to organize recipes I get online. For those of you that use Macs, it's a bit like Sticky Notes, if they're still around. Entries can be connected Wiki-style, so that helps organize things even more.
I like to use clients to manage online content. When I still used Windows and LiveJournal, Semagic was the client for me. I have always preferred using e-mail clients, even when I started actively using web-based accounts. It started with Outlook Express and Hotmail and has come to Mozilla Thunderbird and Gmail. I set up filters to organize my mail into folders so reading my messages is manageable. I have used spam filter programs, and currently, the only one I use is one that turns text into pidgin English that sounds like it's being read by The Swedish Chef. (My regular readers may recall I "borked" my grandfather's e-mails since many were political in nature.) I primarily use Picasa to share pictures online, but I have a downloaded client that organizes them on my computer beforehand.
Speaking of Picasa, I am aware that Google is pushing forward the modern concept of "cloud computing", where files are stored on an outside server rather than on a home computer. I prefer to save copies of most of my files locally on my machine, but I have used Google Docs to write music reviews for W♥M, write stories with my wife, and access spreadsheet documents for games I play.
In my opinion, organization online matters more when others are involved. When it's things that are individually private, I figure they might as well be offline.
What’s your daily Internet "routine?"
E-mail first, to check messages from friends and family if any, and for notifications on forums/blogs/whatever. Everything else is a bit random. Either it's browsing said forums/blogs/etc. or playing some games, and usually it's Facebook games first. Anything after that is up for grabs.
This is not the only spiritual reading with have with her; we have a family scripture study, using a series of LDS scripture and books (the LDS "Standard Works" and LDS Church History, to be precise) adapted for children.
It's all a pleasure, really. At some point I should acquire copies of both the Pooh and Piglet books.
First, we're happy to announce that the team has identified and fixed the issue with the YouTube conduit; you can now find and add videos from YouTube to your library and posts. As always, thanks for your patience!
The other news we have today is about a new addition to the Six Apart family: TypePad Micro, a new free level of TypePad that is streamlined for microblogging. We see a new form of blogging emerging that lives between the quick status updates of Twitter and Facebook and the long-form posts of "classic" blogging; TypePad Micro is designed to meet that need. You can read more about TypePad Micro in Chris Alden's post on the Everything TypePad blog.
A lot of the new capabilities we've added to TypePad this year were actually inspired by some of the best things about Vox: favoriting, member profiles, a dashboard to follow other bloggers, and easy ways to post content from other social media sites. But the things that make Vox different from TypePad are still there: Vox has always been -- and still is -- the best place for "friends and family" blogging, where you're in control over who sees what. TypePad, on the other hand, is built for the blogger who wants, no, craves, attention.
Do you have a passion or interest you want to share with people beyond your Vox neighborhood? If so, we'd love it if you tried out TypePad Micro. Maybe you've always wanted to start that obsessive blog that's just about waffle restaurants. Or want a place to share videos of your favorite band (Jonas Brothers, anyone? Anyone? ...). TypePad Micro's great for those topic-specific blogs. Take it for a spin and let us know what you think.
On the Vox front, our designers are working on some cool new themes (coming soon!). We'd also love to hear your thoughts about where we should take Vox in the coming year. What are the key things you'd like to see for Vox? If you've had a chance to use TypePad this year, what are the features there that we should bring over to Vox? And, if you're thinking big thoughts, how could we connect the Vox and TypePad communities in order to bring together bloggers and their shared passions? Your feedback is really important to us, so please leave a comment here, or shoot me a message.
And again, thanks for your patience as we found and fixed the YouTube bug!
~ daisy
As many of you have noticed, the YouTube Conduit is not working. I am so sorry about this; I know how frustrating it is.
The team is looking into how to get this fixed and I will update you as soon as I hear something. In the meantime, not all is lost... There is a work-around for posting videos.
When you're in the Compose Screen, just click on "embed." Ignore the fact that it says "Widget" before everything because you can definitely use this to embed videos as well. You'll just need to input the embed code from the video, enter a title (if you want) and hit OK.
It might not show up perfectly in your compose screen, but when you hit "Save," your video should appear just the way you wanted it to.
Hopefully this will allow you to keep posting videos while we figure out what's happening on our end.
As always, thanks for your patience.
How will you use technology or the Internet to help you plan and prepare this year’s Thanksgiving feast?
Sponsored by LifeScoop: Bringing You Tips for a Connected Lifestyle.Our family tradition is to go have dinner with Princess Thunderstorm's (Cimmy's) family. This year, all the siblings are coming, that is, my brothers-in-law. Usually it was just Cimmy, myself, Trinity, my mother-in-law, and my father-in-law. One of my brothers-in-law suggested that everyone contribute some dishes, to share the effort and cost. So we have been coordinating our plans by e-mail, and sometimes by telephone.
This morning, I sent my mother-in-law our final list.
What was your favorite class in high school? (And no, lunch doesn't count.)
I chose to take a drama class to fulfill an English requirement. I obtained permission to bypass the intro class and take the main one, which I enjoyed immensely.
