Doggone Crazy is a post from: Derek Press

Plants 2011 Part 1 is a post from: Derek Press

Plants, Twenty Eleven is a post from: Derek Press

Chicago Museum of Science and Industry Model Railroad is a post from: Derek Press

Anyway, looking at that list of orders, I only still own two of those things and use exactly neither of them. A couple I pawned, more than one I put on the curb with an attached “FREE, WORKS!” sign and a corresponding craigslist post, some have broken, and a few I just threw in the trash.

So maybe I win.

Then again, I received a package yesterday from Amazon containing my breakfast cereal for the month (what? they don’t sell it locally, honestly!) So maybe my spending habits have just changed toward the better and uh, more useful.

Now it’s midnight and I’m off to check Woot.

Woot fail. is a post from: Derek Press

Sorry you couldn’t make it Granny, but thanks for the $1.28 experience we’ll never forget.

Granny’s Gone is a post from: Derek Press

Today a weeknight meal might be pasta with homemade sauce, broiled chicken with wild rice, homemade pizza using from-scratch dough, fresh salads, or steamed veggies, cooked using modest equipment. Lunch is usually leftovers with a side salad.

Learning the basics of cooking isn’t hard but you have to want to learn. I really had no interest until I started paying more attention to where my money was going and realizing how much of my paycheck went to food.

Finding a girlfriend that was easily impressed with my cooking did not hurt either and she encouraged me to continue learning.

Cooking at home saves a lot of money, is infinitely better for your health, and is a lifelong skill that won’t be forgotten. And it impresses women (and men, I’d suspect!)

Here are a few things I think beginners should know if they want to learn to cook.

- You don’t need to buy a 21-piece mondo set of cookware. I learned the real basics on crappy equipment and you can too. There are thousands of kitchen gadgets out there. I’m tempted by a lot of them and will acquire more over time but to start out, you don’t need a steamer basket or an immersion blender or a nice pepper mill. If you have some money to spend, here’s what I recommend you look at:

1) Large 10-12” skillet. Can be stainless steel or cast iron. I love my cast iron and use it for almost everything skillet-related. They do take a bit more effort in cleaning (can’t go in the dishwasher, can’t use soap on them) so if that doesn’t sound appealing to you, go with stainless steel. A matching cover is a good idea.

2) Saucepan. Three or four quart. Or both. I like stainless steel here again. Mine is Cuisinart and was about $45. Uber-cheap saucepans have super thin bottoms that burn easily and don’t heat evenly. Avoid them if you can.

3) Stock pot. Stainless steel. Nice tall sides with a heavy bottom and tight-fitting lid for boiling lots of water for pasta or making soups.

4) Chef’s knife. Doesn’t have to be expensive but don’t make the mistake I did and buy the $4.99 grocery-store special. You will hate it. Pick up something low- to mid-range at Target and buy something better down the road. You don’t need a knife block.

5) One plastic slotted spoon, plastic non-slotted spoon, wooden spoon, tongs, one or two “flipper” spatulas and a bowl scraper spatula.

6) Colander. Just about any will do.

7) Baking sheet. I still don’t have a decent baking sheet and I don’t really feel like I need to upgrade. I usually line with foil anyway so I’d recommend going cheap here.

One item that’s not necessary but is real helpful is a food processor. I started with a small, cheap one. It didn’t do a great job but it beats chopping onions by hand. I’ve since upgraded and love it.

- Most cooking shows don’t try to actually teach you how to cook. Most Food Network programming is littered with cupcake baking competitions or other such nonsense. Most of the “real” cooking shows just show you how they cook something and aren’t created to inform you, just entertain you long enough so you’ll stick around to watch their advertising. You learn absolutely nothing. There are two notable exceptions – Good Eats on Food Network and America’s Test Kitchen on PBS. These two programs teach you “why” you should do certain things a certain way and offer some history behind the cooking method or an ingredient. Both highly recommended.

- You can “cook” and home and still eat junk food. Frozen oven dinners contain the same ingredients as frozen microwave dinners. A jar of cheap pasta sauce may have as much salt as a fast food burger. Look at labels and learn where you can cut corners to save time and money, and what things you should really try from scratch. A lot of things that might seem complicated on the surface really aren’t hard at all. Like, did you know whipped cream is just heavy cream and sugar that’s been whipped? Seems stupid but I didn’t know that until I made my own from scratch. Not hard!

- Start with easy, basic recipes and don’t be afraid to fail. I love Allrecipes. They have hundreds of great recipes and thousands of so-so recipes. Pick something easy, print it out, and give it a shot. I generally try to avoid recipes that call for weird ingredients I’d only use once and then put in the pantry for six months. If you’re just starting out though, it’s inevitable you’ll be buying stuff you’ve never used before. Spices, oils, cornstarch, kosher salt, stuff like that. Start small so you’re not spending lots of money on stuff you find out you don’t like or will never use. When you have a good idea of what you like you can start buying in bulk.

- Don’t be afraid to experiment. Don’t have a fringe-ingredient for a recipe? Try something else closely related or leave it out and see what happens. You won’t know what works until you find something that doesn’t work. Obviously leaving out two cans of diced tomatoes probably won’t work but skipping the fresh tarragon and substituting a different dried spice won’t kill your dish. I tend to get discouraged when a meal doesn’t turn out but the next time I will know what to do differently. Trial and error.

- Have fun! Cooking doesn’t have to be a chore. I never thought I’d enjoy standing over a stove watching a sauce simmer or butterflying a chicken and spreading butter and herbs over its delicious skin, but when you taste the end result it’s rewarding and time well spent. If you end up being the primary cook in the household, involve your significant other or kids with simple tasks. This is both encouraging and rewarding for them and gives you more time to focus on the not-as-simple tasks and techniques.

Now, here are five beginner recipes for you to try on your own.

1) Stuffed Pork Chops – One of my easily-impressed girlfriend’s favorite dishes. Pork chops are famously dry and tough but simmering in the beef broth makes them more tender than usual. Steam some frozen mixed veggies in the microwave and you’ve got a nice meal.

2) Broccoli Chicken Fettuccini Alfredo – I would use frozen broccoli in this one. Saves time, frozen veggies contain nearly as many vitamins as fresh, and 1lb bags are super cheap.

3) Rempel Family Meatloaf – I’ve made this one and it is not hard but also not mind-blowing. You’ll need a loaf pan.

4) Tuna Casserole – All of that condensed soup is not ideal but sometimes an evil necessity. Always use low- sodium.

5) Amish Breakfast Casserole – One of my favorites. Takes time but is delicious. You could make it the night before and bake it in the morning. I use Simply Potatoes for the hash browns.

And a bonus – Spaghetti Carbonara. One of the first dishes that actually made me feel like more than a beginner cook. You need to balance a few things at once and it could get hairy but the result is a very good one indeed.

And one more bonus – Alton Brown’s Creamy Garlic Mashed Potatoes. So, so good. I don’t have half-and-half on hand usually so half milk, half heavy cream or butter substitutes.

Acquire a few pieces of equipment, master a few of your favorites, and keep learning. That’s what I’m doing. Now go enjoy the fruits of your labor.

Learning to Cook is a post from: Derek Press

I’ve been wearing undershirts under almost everything for over ten years (so you should take my opinion very seriously). I like the sweat and outershirt protection, the softness of a good undershirt, the slight extra bulk they add (not a problem for everyone, or even most, I realize), and the ever-important nipple coverage.

In my exhaustive research I’ve found that most men start with the classic white Hanes or Fruit of the Loom crew neck. Some move on and some stick with them forever.

I started with the Hanes in my early teens and wore them through my early twenties. Then something got in my head and I started trying out to other undershirts.

I did the wife beater for a while, and I like how they hug your torso but don’t they do anything for underarm sweat. Then I moved on to the muscle shirt and those have the same problem but it’s nice to have the wider shoulder “straps”, for lack of a better word. I don’t, however, like the vertical lines that accompany most A-shirts and muscle shirts. A solid fabric looks much nicer.

The next step was v-necks and that’s what I’ve settled on. I wear them with button up shirts, polos, sweaters, almost everything.

Some men like the white crew neck sticking out over a dress shirt while others think it looks a bit tacky. I used to do the crew (while doing the Dew) so I can’t fault anyone that chooses to go with it.

However, in my unqualified opinion a nice dress shirt can have its sleekness ruined but a white collar poking out.

It’s your choice but whatever you do, DO NOT wear a crew neck with a stretched-out, wrinkled, or yellow collar. It looks awful no matter what you’re wearing over it.

The participants in my studies informed me that a common issue men have is the awful “undershirt visible through white shirt”. It’s the male version of visible panty lines. Not good. So here’s a secret to prevent that problem:

Wear a gray undershirt. Really. It seems counterintuitive but a gray shirt will be invisible under most white shirts. There’s some science-y reason why that is but it’s not important.

Here’s another somewhat-weird-and-embarrassing-if-seen-by-others tip you may or may not choose to follow:

Tuck your undershirt into your underwear.

Yep. Sounds weird but this prevents your undershirt from coming untucked, leading to that unsightly clump of cloth around your waist when your undershirt is untucked but your outershirt is still tucked. This is especially a problem when wearing an undershirt that is too large.

And now for the moment you’ve all been waiting for, the revealing of my current choice of undershirt:

Heather gray v-neck from Gap

I size down one size to get a closer fit. The V is not too shallow or too deep, they are soft, don’t cost too much (Gap has 40% off coupons regularly), and the sleeves are short enough to not stick out under a polo. Very important.

I also have some Puritan heather gray crew necks I found on clearance at Wal-Mart that are super soft and well fitting. I wear the crew necks under a crew sweatshirt but the Vs are worn a lot more.

There are as many opinions on undershirts as there are actual undershirts out there so experiment a bit and find what you like. My advice is to spend a few more dollars on nicer undershirts like Gap, Calvin Klein (at Macy’s), J. Crew, and Banana Republic, for example, and they will fit better, wash better, feel softer, and last longer. And if you end up back with the classic white Hanes crew, great.

TUG at http://www.undershirtguy.com/ has a blog that you should check out to read more about the fascinating world of undershirts.

Undershirts is a post from: Derek Press

Plants 9 is a post from: Derek Press

All of this data is used to create a highly personal profile about you. Most of this is used for advertising – where you shop, what you buy, your income level, etc. are highly sought after by advertisers and marketers, both traditional and online. Worse yet, there are countless sleazy internet advertising “firms” that sell your private information to spammers and other internet bad guys. And to not sound alarmist, it’s not just “internet baddies” that lust after this data.

One of the web’s giants, Google, make their millions from advertising. They have brilliantly disguised themselves as a company that provides great, free services like search, email, maps, Chrome, and Android, while asking for nothing in return. Well as you know, nothing in life is truly free.

If you use any of Google’s services, they know more about you than you’d probably be comfortable with. Some (most?) people do not seem to care or are oblivious to how much data they leave behind. I think this is a mistake.

As technology gets evermore personal and millions more people get online, private information will become an even bigger goldmine for governments, banks, identity thieves, malware distributors, blackmailers, lawyers, and even people you know personally like ex-spouses, employers, and so on.

So without further ado, here are some ways to protect your privacy while still taking advantage of all the great things the internet has to offer. All of the following involve the Firefox web browser which everyone should use.

• Google Sharing – Google Sharing is a brilliant Firefox add-on that proxy’s all of your Google-related requests through some servers somewhere so Google does not know where you’re coming from. This means that everyone using Google Sharing appears to be coming from the same range of IP addresses. Obviously this does not work with services such as Gmail and AdSense because you must login to access that data.
• Ghostery – Ghostery is another brilliant add-on that blocks invisible “bugs” or trackers found online. The most prominent example is Google Analytics. Many, many websites (including this one) use Google Analytics to track information about your visit such as how you got to the site, your location, what you clicked on, and more. This data is ultimately used by the site owner and Google to learn how to better advertise to you. There are hundreds more trackers from advertisers, behavioral data collectors, shady porn site operators, and others, and this awesome add-on denies them the precious data they seek. It’s not on by default, however, and you must set it to block all trackers automatically.
• RefControl – As mentioned above, one piece of data you send to a site is the site you just came from. For example, if you search for an item on Google that you’re interested in buying and click the Amazon result, not only does Google know you clicked that, Amazon now knows that you ran your search on Google and the exact search terms you used. Another example, you’re checking your account balance on your bank’s website and log out when you’re done. You then type google.com into the address bar and now Google can assume they know what bank you use. Do this enough times and they’ll definitely know. By default I block the referrer to every site but sometimes you can run into an issue where you need to send the correct referrer. Just go into the options and use the Normal setting on that site.
• AdBlock Plus – Ad blocking is a controversial issue and an ethical quandary. Most websites make their money by displaying advertising and rely on that money to continue generating content. Therefore, I selectively block ads when I feel they’re not necessary or they are overly intrusive. Your stance may vary but this add-on is highly recommended and is one of the most popular Firefox add-ons.
• BetterPrivacy – Not only do websites place traditional cookies on your computer, if the site uses Adobe Flash, some additional Flash cookies, called LSO cookies or SuperCookies, are stored that are not deleted when you delete your regular cookies. You may be surprised to learn that you basically have a hidden “history” folder since each cookie is named www.sitevisited.com. On Windows 7, they’re stored in

C:\Users\username\AppData\Roaming\Macromedia\Flash Player. BetterPrivacy allows you to delete these on exit, which is recommended.

• FlashBlock – Speaking of Flash, much of it encountered online is not necessary. It’s used for advertising, annoying games, and general garbage. I block all Flash by default and whitelist sites like YouTube. When you encounter a Flash segment that you’d like to see, just click on it to active it. Awesome.
• User Agent Switcher – When visiting a site, your web browser name and version, along with your operating system and version are sent to the site so the operator knows how to display the page properly. Most of the time this isn’t necessary and the page will display fine without sending that data. This add-on allows you to forge your User Agent, like sending just blank data or picking a browser and operating system you’re not really using. You can extend its use by downloading extended lists of User Agents as XML files. I like to have a little fun by displaying a super old version of AOL or Netscape. You may find that some sites require a modern browser, however, and you’ll need to change it to something a bit newer.
• HTTPS Everywhere – HTTPS Everywhere seamlessly encrypts your browsing to many of the most popular sites on the internet like Facebook, Twitter, NYTimes, Live, Wikipedia, and many more. HTTPS uses SSL to scramble all of the communications between your computer and the website you’re visiting and prevents any man-in-the-middle attacks.
• NoScript – This add-on blocks all Javascript by default. I personally don’t use this one because it makes the internet kind of hard to use and I’ve never had a problem with rogue Javascript code but it’s popular among the privacy-conscious. Since a lot of the internet uses Javascript, some time will be needed to whitelist the sites you trust.
• Torbutton – This add-on completely anonymizes all of your internet traffic. This is another one I don’t use because thankfully I don’t see the need, but if you’re extra paranoid or live in a region that monitors your internet activity and/or blocks certain websites, this one’s for you. When you use Tor, your traffic goes to another node somewhere on the internet and that node makes the request for you, when is then sent to you. Anyone can run their own node. It’s a great idea and lots of people use it but at this point it’s not quite worth it for me.
• Do not allow third-party cookies. This one is not an add-on but just a setting in Firefox under Tools>Options>Privacy tab, uncheck Accept third-party cookies. Third party cookies are cookies (small data files) placed on your computer from a site other than the one you’re visiting. These are, again, generally advertising and data collecting sites and are not necessary to use the actual site you’re visiting. Disallow them!
• Don’t use Facebook Connect. This one has nothing to do with Firefox but it’s an important one. Using Facebook Connect to sign in to another website creates a huge outflow of your Facebook information. The more places your Facebook info is stored, the higher chance of ID theft and personal data leakage. It’s not worth it.
• Be mindful of what you put online. This one seems like it should be common sense but in the day and age of “share everything” sometimes we need to stop and think if this information should be online in the first place. Always assume that what you post, create, upload, share, whatever, will be searchable online forever.

Using these tips you will limit the amount of data you leave behind, and the number of companies that have access to this personal data. If you want to learn more about protecting your privacy, visit eff.org, one of the leading sites for digital freedom and privacy.

How to Protect Your Privacy Online is a post from: Derek Press