BEING ELECTROCUTED

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2010-04-03T07:20:00.001-07:00

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Best Albums of 2009

2010-03-01T07:02:00.001-08:00

In no particular order...

Them Crooked Vultures - S/T

Yeah Yeah Yeahs - It's Blitz

Chris Wollard & the Ship Thieves - S/T

Obits - I Blame You

Beaten Awake - Thunder$troke

Propagandhi - Supporting Caste

The Thermals - Now We Can See

Pearl Jam - Backspacer

Dinosaur Jr. - Farm

Drummer - Feel Good Together

Vampire Weekend Contra Stream

2010-01-11T15:28:00.000-08:00

Enjoy!

Oh, that's how you do it

2009-12-19T11:10:00.000-08:00

I seriously never knew.

Ribs

2009-10-03T08:20:00.001-07:00

I got a few compliments on my ribs from a work event the other day, so here's the secret:

Purchase Pork Back Ribs, BBQ sauce, and ingredients for rub below.
Do a search for [rib rub] and pick one that looks good to you. (I prefer ones with brown sugar in the recipe)
Add other things to the mix that sound good to you, like red pepper flakes and extra cayenne if you want it hotter.
Rub the spice mix onto the meat, both sides, and refrigerate between 2 and 12 hours.
Double wrap the meat in aluminum foil (before refrigerating if convenient) meaty side up.
Preheat Oven to 300 degrees.
Cook in oven for 3 hours.
Remove from oven and touch a fork between meat and bone and see if it comes apart pretty easily. If so, next step. If not, put back in for 30 min.
Preheat grill (gas or charcoal)
Place ribs on grill, lower heat to medium. 2 minutes on each side.
Start applying your favorite BBQ sauce.
Turn and apply BBQ to other side, lower heat for 2 more minutes and you're done.

Old

2009-10-03T08:03:00.000-07:00

I turned 29 this week, thus beginning the 30th year of my life. Brigitta took me to a David Cross show a few weeks ago and we ate out at Cascal last night. That's not my excuse for ignoring this blog, though. I haven't been posting because I have been soaking up every moment of free time to watch LOST and play Fantasy Football before this baby comes. I've also been guest blogging on her site since she can't operate a keyboard yet.

Inter Milan vs Club America

2009-07-21T07:08:00.000-07:00

Some international club teams are in the US this week playing a series of exhibition games called the World Football Challenge. My graduation present last may from Brigitta was tickets to the Inter Milan vs Club America game at Stanford stadium. We had awesome seats in the ninth row at center field. The match ended in a draw, and Club America prevailed after penalties.

AC Milan and Chelsea are also here in the states somewhere and all four teams will eventually play each other at different venues across the country, so check the website for details.

All American

2009-07-05T19:49:00.000-07:00

I had an All American Weekend this 4th of July. Since the US Soccer team blew their lead and lost to Brazil last week, someone had to get this country back on track. We went the Fillmore Jazz Festival in San Francisco, grilled out our own burgers and bbq chicken, and I installed two new toilets in our house. We ended the night of the 4th watching JCVD (not American) and listening to the fireworks at Shoreline Amphitheatre.

The Jazz festival turned into more of a food festival for me, as I'm a sucker for street fair/carnival food. I had a pulled pork sandwich, garlic fries, and some of Brigitta's teriyaki kebab. The only thing I forgot to get was a funnel cake. Here are a few pics...

As for the plumbing work. I won't go into too many details. Let's just say part of the process is sticking a rag into the sewer line so that the raw sewage gases don't escape into the house. I went with the American Standard Cadet 3 if anyone is interested. The enclosed instructions plus a few 'how-to' YouTube videos got me through it rather easily. In the end, both were succesful.

Go Team.

Pulled Pork

2009-06-08T07:07:00.000-07:00

I made pulled pork yesterday. I use my father-in-law's recipe, which I'm sure he doesn't mind me sharing with you. However, if you do open a restaurant one day and use this recipe, you should probably let him eat there for free whenever he wants. Anyway, here's what you need:

1 crock pot or slow cooker
3-5 lb pork shoulder (or similar)
1.5 tbs brown sugar
1 tbs salt
1 tsp white pepper
1 tsp black pepper
1 tsp dry ground mustard
1 tsp garlic powder
1 tsp cayenne pepper
4 tsp paprika
rolls
bbq sauce

Step 1: Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a bowl

Step 2: Unwrap the pork shoulder and apply dry rub.

Step 3: Place in Crock Pot, set to low, and cover. Cooking will take 5-6 hours. Check in every two hours, and increase the temperature to high if the meat doesn't start falling apart at 4 hours.

Step 4: After about 4 hours, the meat should start to fall apart. If your pork shoulder was tied together with twine, cut it off and remove it now. If it is not fully ready, replace the cover and check back each hour. When the meat can easily be pulled apart with two forks, go ahead and pull it.

Step 5: Let it sit and cook in its own juices for another 20 minutes until no liquid remains in the bottom of the Crock Pot. In the meantime, prepare your rolls and bbq sauce (if you like more bbq flavor like I do). When ready, make your sandwiches and serve.

Enjoy!

Dinosaur Jr.

2009-05-03T21:57:00.001-07:00

I wore this shirt today and got a half dozen compliments.

Also, Dinosaur Jr just put up a song from their new album at www.dinosaurjr.com. Check it out.

Hey Baby

2009-05-03T21:27:00.000-07:00

So, I'm a little late to blog about this, but I figure it is worth saying loud and clear: WE ARE HAVING A BABY!

We told our family a few months back, and finally let our inner circle of friends in on the secret on our recent trip to Florida for my graduation. Soon after that, we lifted internet silence and here we are. It was very hard to keep it secret.

The yet-to-be-named person is due sometime around October 24th. We'll probably find out the gender, but it is still an active point of discussion. We are bouncing around some names, but we will not be doing anything crazy like letting the internet name our baby. Needless to say, we are really excited!

Here's what we've seen so far...

At 8 Weeks (1 cm):

12 Weeks (Head, arms, legs):

I'll post regular updates here, maybe even start a blog for the baby. A baby with a blog - How ridiculous, right?

Kauai Vacation 2009

2009-04-14T22:28:00.000-07:00

In case you didn't notice I was gone, back in January, Brigitta and I took a little vacation to celebrate our three year anniversary. Here are some pics from the trip. We did everything we could over 9 days, including hiking to beaches and waterfalls, snorkeling, kayaking, and eating lots of shaved ice, tropical fruit, and macadamia nuts.

I highly recommend Kauai over Maui if you want to get out and do more than lounge at the hotel. We also really liked our condo there, so hit me up for recommendations if you are planning a trip. I can't wait to go back...

Best Albums of 2008

2009-04-14T20:49:00.000-07:00

Yeah, I realize 2008 is a ways back, but it took me a while to purchase some of these, and I've been busy with school. So, following up on last year's best-of list, here are my favorite albums of 2008, sorted in descending order of heaviness of course...

Torche - Meanderthal :: Torche's second full length. Just think if Sabbath and Helmet had a lovechild. Heavy, yet amazingly melodic anthems.

Clouds - We Are Above You :: Psychadelic metal, with a strong harcore punk influence. Former members of Cave-in playing music that sounds like it would have been from their first garage band.

Suicide Note - Empty Rooms :: They continues to evolve, yet retain their hardcore roots and incorporate a spectrum of influences. They amazingly find originality in a genre where it should no longer exist. Hard to explain, you'll just have to listen.

Young Widows - Old Wounds :: Sounds like a mix of everything Steve Albini has ever had his hands on. Oh, except the the song 'Delay Your Pressure' which sounds suspiciously a lot like Escape Grace's 'The Siren City'. Don't get me wrong, the album is a refreshing direction.

The Night Marchers - See You In Magic :: Half of Hot Snakes. Sounds like Rocket From the Crypt without the horns, which I actually prefer.

The Hold Steady - Stay Positive :: If Bruce Springsteen was in a punk rock band (emphasis on the rock), this would be them. I wasn't a fan of the two recent albums, but this one makes up for it.

CSS - Donkey :: Wild Brazilians. I'm not sure I can describe this in words, but I'll try: Zany, aggressive, guitar and synth heavy pop songs sung in broken English. Trust me, it works.

Sebastien Grainger and the Mountains - S/T :: From the talented half of Death From Above 1979. Smooth, catchy rock songs.

Wolf Parade - At Mount Zoomer :: I got out to see them live this year. WP are probably my favorite active 'indie rock' band right now. This album took a little getting used to, but if you listen through the quirky melodies once, you'll be hooked.

Nada Surf - Lucky :: Not their best album, but still solid rock record, as usual.

Vampire Weekend - S/T :: Catchiest album of the year. This is an ESPN instant classic.

Conor Oberst - S/T :: Folksy acoustic songs, more country than most Bright Eyes albums. The more stripped down the music the more obvious it is how talented a songwriter Oberst is.

Honorable Mention (good, but haven't listened enough to form an opinion):

The Mountain Goats - Heretic Pride

Ninja Gun- Restless Rubes

Best EP's:

Obits - One Cross Apiece :: The other half of Hot Snakes. If only Rick Froberg sang for the Night Marchers.

Cutman - Big Deal :: Punk songs about bulldozers and vans.

:::::

PS - I'm on Lala and Last.fm

My Amazon Wish List

2009-04-02T21:47:00.000-07:00

To anyone who has ever asked me what I want for a gift,

You will now find the following button on the right hand side of my blog. It is a link to an Amazon wish list, where I will try to keep an updated list of all the thing I ever want in this world. Let's just go ahead and assume that if Amazon doesn't have it, it isn't worth having.

I got it started with things that are on top of mind, like records and new shoes, but I will add to it frequently, and even more so if I find a sweet Android app that lets me scan barcodes and 'add to wishlist'.

The Real Matt Dougherty

2009-04-01T20:46:00.000-07:00

I was re-registering a domain I own the other day, and somehow got into a vanity search tangent for available domains that are variations on my name and main domain mattdougherty.com. Maybe it was the marketing classes that prompted me to protect my brand, or maybe it was that Google treats 'Doherty' as an acronym for 'Dougherty'. I am not Matt Doherty and he is not me!

Matt Doherty, among other people, is a former University of North Carolina and University of Kansas basketball coach (Yes, similar to Roy Williams), and he is an actor who starred in classics such as The Mighty Ducks and So I Married An Axe Murderer.

Since both of these people show up for searches for my name, I went ahead and purchased mattdoherty.com because it was available, and while I was at it, GoDaddy convinced me to buy mattdougherty.info and matthewdougherty.info each for 99 cents. None of them will host any content, and currently 301 redirect to my main site. If one of the real Matt Doherty's ever reaches out to me and wants their domain, I will probably give it to him (in exchange for movie or basketball tickets).

I am still alive

2009-03-15T21:33:00.000-07:00

I have a pretty big backlog of half written blog posts. I will try to finish most of them up and post before my graduation one month from now.

New Kitchen Pics

2008-12-04T08:24:00.001-08:00

Our kitchen is finally done! Most people won't care about this, but it's been my side project at home since August. We refaced the cabinets with new doors, shelves and trim, installed new granite counters and tile backsplash, replaced the appliances, sink, and garbage disposal, and painted. The experience was sometimes painful, but worked out nice in the end. The highlight was the contractor who did my cabinet refacing getting arrested halfway through the job. Ask me for recommendations.

Before:

After:

PS - no electrocution.

NYC

2008-11-18T07:21:00.000-08:00

Went to New York for a few days last week in support of the Sanrio Luxe store grand opening. Brigitta was the project manager on this new concept store, and was getting all kinds of props from the people I talked to.

I worked from the NYC Google office for a few days, and at night we putzed around the city. We spent time in Central Park, Chelsea, the Village, Soho, and various other places to avoid the madness around our hotel in Times Square. We saw the giant Christmas tree on a truck in Rockefeller Plaza. It had just arrived.

Restaurants of note were Juniors, Hampton Chutney Co and Gusto Organics, and I can't forget cupcakes at Magnolia Bakery. mmm.

Four Years later...Netflix on TiVo

2008-10-30T08:18:00.002-07:00

I remember when TiVo and Netflix first announced that they were going to work together, in what seemed like the most logical extension of both of their businesses - rent movies, and stream them to your Tivo. I was excited, until it never happened, and TiVo partnered with Amazon Unbox. That was kind of cool, except for the fact that I had to pay $3.99 for most movies.

Four years later, it looks like it is actually going to happen. The best part is that existing customers of the individual services will be entitled to free downloads, so the next question consumers will ask is if they can get a packaged deal on subscription.

These are two of my favorite companies. Both created blue ocean opportunities and have been pretty successful at fending off generic attempts at competition from traditional industry players. When I finally set up an etrade account, these might be the first two stocks I purchase.

I'm Back

2008-10-30T08:10:00.000-07:00

It's been a few months since my last post. Sorry. I've been caught up in school, work, remodeling our kitchen, football season, parents visiting, and voting. There are some funny stories to tell, but I'll save them for their own posts.

YouTube on Tivo!

2008-08-28T07:27:00.000-07:00

Got the new Tivo update yesterday. They added a YouTube menu and the quality is pretty good for getting stretched to 42 inches.

We watched the always entertaining "Cat attacks Pit Bull".

Stop lying to me NBC

2008-08-08T07:30:00.000-07:00

I don't really care that much about the Olympics, but I honestly thought the opening ceremonies advertised for this evening were going to be live, in the evening, for us and tomorrow morning in Beijing. That just didn't seem too far fetched to me.

This morning I am online, with the TV on in the background as usual, and I am reading about the Opening ceremonies while NBC is pretending they haven't happened yet. I think most Americans are aware of Time Zones, and it's acceptable to show events in the middle of the night (online or on one of your several cable television channels) to at least give us the opportunity to watch it live. I have a feeling this is going to be a theme this year: Read the scores before you see the games.

An article in the NY Times gave a live report of the events in the early morning, here are a few reader comments:

Tape delay is becoming annoying in this day and age. We trade stocks 24/7 across time zones, we get news as it breaks, etc. NBC has got seven TV and cable channels, this ain’t 1988 anymore.

— Posted by Tom

What amuses me about NBC is they’re trying really hard to pretend that the opening ceremony haven’t happened yet, even though 8:08pm has already passed in Beijing. I’m watching the Today Show right now: Al Roker and Natalie are in the NY studio saying stuff like “and the opening ceremonies coming later tonight!” while Matt Lauer & Ann Curry *are in* Beijing on screen on some kind of weird mini-tape delay. It looks like it’s early evening there but they can’t be live because the opening ceremony is going on right now. The lengths to which they’re going to perpetuate this ruse in order to protect their exclusive coverage here in the U.S. is a little insulting to our intelligence.

— Posted by Jon

I simply tired of NBC’s Olympic coverage. Over-exposure of American athletes, ridiculous behind the sport stories, and horrific timing. Remember Sydney? I was hopeful their online player would allow greater flexibility for schedules, but not showing the opening ceremonies online is further evidence of NBC’s “don’t worry, we’ll show you what we think is important” approach to the olympics. boo.

— Posted by killie42

NBC’s Olympic coverage is terrible across the board. Their TV stations don’t cover many events, case in point: this opening ceremony. Their Internet coverage is simply unaccessible.

I can’t say this is a bad thing as it further legitimizes and promotes piracy.

— Posted by NBC Dislike

This is really weird, and there really is no good excuse. Either NBC is technologically incapable of offering live feeds online, or they are not business-minded enough to figure out advertisers will still pay to advertise in the middle of the night, then they will pay again when you re-play the bigger events in primetime. Focus on the user and all else will follow. Go Team USA.

Hey Cuil, Use a Robots.txt

2008-07-28T07:09:00.000-07:00

Cuil.com is flooding my newsfeeds this morning. Reid already reported that their home page links are only periodically working. I, too, don't see my site on the first three pages of a vanity search. Also, looks like they need to add a robots.txt file to block other search engines from indexing their search results. This should work:

User-agent: *
Disallow: /search

Honestly, who searches for search results? When I hear about a new website, the first thing I do, is a site: search. The second thing I do is check the robots.txt. Isn't that what all normal people do?

iPhoto woes

2008-07-27T20:26:00.000-07:00

Sometimes iPhoto lets you import pictures, sometimes it doesn't. Sometimes you can find these imported pictures through Finder, sometimes you can't. Sometimes you can attach these photos using Gmail, sometimes you can't.

Apparently, this is is by design. I might be completely wrong, but from reading through a few forums, it seems that Apple wants you to use the Apple Mail application to send pictures, and only lets you access pictures from other applications if you first copy them onto the desktop from iPhoto. Seriously?

Trying to make iPhoto work better with Picasa Web Albums Uploader and iPhoto2Gmail plugins just doesn't cut it, especially since I have to re-discover them every time under the Export menu. I need Picasa for Mac!

Wild Suburban Weekend

2008-07-14T07:08:00.000-07:00

I spent most of last week in the city for a management conference. One night we had dinner inside AT&T Park, and another day took the out-of-towners on a boat cruise of San Francisco Bay. Needless to say, all this excitement meant I deserved a relaxing weekend back at home.

On Friday, I played poker with a knife-wielding maniac after going out to celebrate a teammate's last day at Google. Good luck in Chicago, Mark.

On Saturday, Brigitta and I finally stopped in and ate at Garden Fresh, the vegan Chinese food restaurant in Mountain View, this weekend. I liked it so much I decided to Yelp about it.

Sunday, We rode our bikes to the Farmers' Market. Here's a tip: Go before 10 to beat the crowd.