Charles' Blog

Reading Versus Websites

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sat, 13 Sep 2008 13:40:00 +0000

There is never enough time to do everything you want to. You have to weigh all of those things and figure out which you want to do most.

I'm sitting in my favorite coffee shop sipping an Irish Cream Latte. I do this on Saturday and Sunday almost every week. I'm usually working on either the ExploreCharleston.net website or the small email and website hosting business I'm developing. I've made a lot of progress with both, but there's still a lot of headway to be made with the website hosting. I brought a new Attraction Directions project live this week. It lets visitors choose any two attractions, then generates directions through the Google Maps API.

In the meantime, I have fallen really behind in my reading. I managed to pick up Alastair Reynolds' Redemption Ark a few times this week and am working my way back into it slowly. I'm trying to only read this morning, but I'm finding it difficult to focus on the book. My mind wanders back to the projects.

Stir Fry Love

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sun, 27 Jul 2008 17:37:00 +0000

Man, do I love a good stir fry.

A little bit of everything...red onion, nappa cabbage, matchstick carrots, broccoli, squash, zucchini, red bell pepper seasoned with crushed red pepper, garlic powder and fresh crushed pepper. I've been using grape seed oil, which is moderately equal to olive oil, but it has a much higher smoked point- between 420°F and 485°F. Olive oil smokes at around 375°F.

I've been adding 1/2 tsp of a sweet szechuan sauce in the last minute. This is usually served with 1/2 cup of jasmine rice.

There isn't much in the the szechuan sauce, but I'm planning to try replacing it with fresh minced ginger.

Societal Inequities

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sun, 13 Jul 2008 14:57:00 +0000

I began reading the second book in a trilogy called The Paratwa Saga. The first book was amazing. It was filled with unexpected twists, turns, and passages that provoked deeper thought. They have been out of print for a number of years, but can still be found in the usual places, Amazon Marketplace, ebay, etc.

I'm going to type a passage that I found very interesting, but I first need to supply some short, but extensive back story.

Scientists created genetically modified twins, Paratwa, who were telepathically linked. They were sold as soldiers and mercenary forces. Their one flaw was that they had a psychotic personality. A sub caste of the Paratwa turned them on humanity. After a great deal of destruction, the Earths biosphere was destroyed, forcing humanity to seek refuge in large cylindrical habitats around 265 years ago. Three groups emerged. The first is E-Tech, a group mandated to control the release of all technology in order to protect humanity from the very scourge that destroyed the Earth. The Second is Gloria de la Ciencia, E-Techs opposite, who push for the release of all technology. The third are the Costeuas, loosely bound collection of pirate clans, who among other things raid the evacuated Earth for legal and illegal technologies. In the first book, through a series of events, the Costeaus are allowed to begin reintegrating into society. This includes joining the governing body known as the Council of Irrya. The Lion of Alexander leads the united pirate clans, Inez Hernandez leads Gloria de la Ciencia and Doyle Blumhaven leads E-Tech.
And now for the passage…
"Inez," the Lion offered, "did you know that a young Costeau once asked me why La Gloria de la Ciencia behaves so arrogantly?"

She Smiled. "He must have been very young."

"He was. But the answer I gave him perhaps betrays my own age. I said that La Gloria de la Ciencia acted that way because society allows them the privilege."

Inez laughed. "Just as it allows the Costeaus the privilege of remaining outlaws to Colonial society."

"True enough. But I wonder why it is that our two institutions are permitted the liberty of arrogance while the rest of society must conform to more rigid standards of behavior?"

That got Doyle Blumhaven's attention, as the lion had intended. The E-Tech Councilor glared at them, his baby-fat face slowly shaping itself into a frown.

"No one is permitted to wear the mantle of arrogance. Certain individuals- and organizations- choose to crown themselves with it."

"But only in self-defense, " prodded the lion.

Blumhaven bristled. "Defense against what?"

"Societal inequities...what is perceived by some as the lack of justice, a dearth of fair opportunities."

The E-Tech Councillor raised his hand and pointed a finger to his head. "Up here, "he said, tapping the finger against waves of cleanly styled brown hair. "Here is where these so-called societal inequities exist- in the mind of Cousteas."

And there, thought the lion, there lies the core of anti-Costeau bigotry.

Many shared Blumhaven's attitude. They simply blinded themselves to the existence of the problem, as if by refusing to recognize that prejudice still existed, it would somehow disappear.

The lion also realized that his own gentle provocations toward the E-Tech Councilor did nothing to bridge the wide gap between their beliefs. On one level, the lion's provocations remained insignificant; they would never alter Blumhaven's attitude. Still it was not good politics to constantly taunt the man. Yet the lion seemed unable to control himself.

We are all servants of our passions.

Easy Fancy Turkey Sandwhich

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Fri, 11 Jul 2008 16:07:00 +0000

I've gone on various sandwich kicks over the last year or so, but I came up with a pretty good one this week.

I sauteed a small portion of red onion, red bell pepper, and fresh minced garlic the night before. I used grape seed oil, but olive oil works just as good.

In separate container, I combined fresh ground black pepper, crushed garlic, balsamic vinegar and olive oil as a dressing. It tastes much better if you let it set over night in the frig. It will solidify, but melt easily.

I picked up a loaf of 5 grain bread from Publix, Boar's Head turkey, lettuce shreds, vegetarian pepper jack cheese slices, and a tomato.

I laid a slice of the cheese on the bread and stacked the turkey, onions, bell pepper, and drizzled some of the balsamic dressing on it, then placed it in the toaster oven. I generally wait until the cheese has time to melt somewhat.

I removed it, squeezed a little low fat mayo, and added the shreds and tomato slices.

This sandwich rocks!

Jekyll Revisted

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sat, 14 Jun 2008 15:03:00 +0000

I decided to rewatch an episode of Jekyll this morning. It's an amazing BBC series from 2007. Steven Moffat is a masterful writer. He has also written a couple episodes of the new Dr. Who series.

Jekyll is a modern day retelling of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde with several very inventive twists and turns added. I couldn't even begin to guess some of the plot twists as the came.

I cannot recommend this series enough.

BBC Jekyll Website
Wikipedia Article

Gardeners beware! The Scary Plant Container Story.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Tue, 10 Jun 2008 12:11:00 +0000

I meant to post this rather scary story earlier.

I will preface the story. We went somewhere around noon. As we left, I made the observation that I smelled some kind of smoke. It wasn't grilling. It was something burning.

The day went on. I stepped onto the porch around 7:30pm. I saw smoke coming off one of the self watering planters I built 2 years ago. WTF?

I looked closer. There was a layer of ash on top. The plastic under the rim was melted all the way around in an irregular pattern. I immediately grabbed my water hose, which I had connected from the washing machine water line last year. I flooded the container while my mind raced to understand what happened. I first thought it was a cigarette butt from upstairs. I then thought it could have been something some kids did. But then the thought of spontaneous combustion ran through my mind.

There had been red coal like bits in the soil, so I dug the soil out and spread it into other containers. I continued pouring water on it. I called a non-emergency fire department number and a policeman had a fire chief return my call.

None of my containers were in use. In fact, I was in the process of getting rid of the soil, because of the drought. It was going to be to grow anything. The drought is going to return.

Here is what happened. The container was in the sun. The soil that was deeper in the container was damp. It was 100 degrees in Athens, so it was hotter than usual. It held potting soil, which means it contained bits of organic material. Heat, steam, old plant roots, composting elements...the soil effectively spontaneously combusted. I later deduced that its placement was about 2 feet from an air conditioner unit. (I moved it over there to get it out of the way last week.) That meant there was a steady air current flowing over it.

I don't even want to continue thinking past that, but it could have been bad. Really bad.

I still sit here thinking....I've never heard of this kind of thing happening before. EVER.

The lessen has been learned and I'm spreading it to everyone I know who gardens in containers: Keep the soil wet and often and when they're not in use, keep them out of the sun. According to the fire chief, this process has burned down entire barns before in Clarke county.

Dinner Impossible...you're fired.

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Mon, 03 Mar 2008 01:34:00 +0000

I am severely disappointed in Chef Robert Irvine. He had one of my favorite Food Network shows, Dinner Impossible. He lied on his resume, lied about opening a restaurant, and apparently owes over $100,000 to a financer.

Here's an article from the UK Guardian.

Liege-Killer by Christopher Hinz

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sun, 02 Mar 2008 15:35:00 +0000

Just a quick note regarding this 1987 out of print, Science Fiction book...

Leige-Killer was amazing. There were so many quick twists and turns throughout the book. Once I was became more familiar with Hinz' style, I was somewhat able to anticipate them. It was still an excellent read and somewhat ahead of its time.

Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Tue, 19 Feb 2008 02:03:00 +0000

I've come to the conclusion that I do like the new Terminator series. It's got more time, so therefore it's got more depth. Sarah Connor feels more human than Linda Hamilton's version and I'm fine with that.

John Connor does feel somewhat bland. Summer Glau's Terminator feels a little strange, but she is essentially learning as Arnold Schwarzenegger's Terminator did in the second movie.

Whether or not this series has legs is yet to be seen. For me it does, but it needs to keep momentum with the viewing public at large too.

Discussion Forum

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 00:24:00 +0000

I've finally decided to reinstall phpBB. It's primarily to spur discussions for my favorite authors and books. I plan to expand it eventually to include other topics.

The New Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Thu, 31 Jan 2008 03:27:00 +0000

I have decided to resurrect this blog and incorporate it into my website, rather than built the blog application from scratch in PHP with MySQL.

Stay tuned - I hope to begin adding entries soon.

ExploreCharlesotn.net - v1.0

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Sun, 25 Nov 2007 18:48:00 +0000

I can't express how happy I am that we finally finished version 1.0 of the ExploreCharleston website. We've spent the better part of 5 months designing it. I coded the entire website from scratch in PHP, while Steven helped with the text and review content. There are still a number of areas I want to create, but those will be added slowly over the coming months.

I think it was extremely important to get the bulk of the content up during Fall/Winter, so the search engines will index everything before the Spring/Summer travel season.

I can now bring my focus back to GridEpsilon.com for a while. There are number of things I learned while creating the Charleston website. I want to bring many of those elements to this website.

New Website: Explore Charleston

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Wed, 21 Nov 2007 16:12:00 +0000

Our new website, ExploreCharleston.net is now live! It's taken 5 months in development and you could say that it was 4 years in the making.

ExploreCharleston.net offers approximately 80 Charleston area attraction reviews that include restaurants, historic homes, civil war sites, beaches, and more. It also features a large photo gallery and discussion forum.

PHP & MySQL Fun

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Mon, 17 Sep 2007 17:47:00 +0000

I still can't believe how much fun I've had designing this website from scratch. It's been over 10 years since I did any real coding at this level. PHP and MySQL have been a blast to work with.

Generally when I'm at home I don't like to do any kind of low level computer related work, because it soon feels like I've never actually left work. I think I've finally found the right level that I'm comfortable with as far as the amount time and learning involved.

Shuttle Endeavor Lands Safely

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Tue, 21 Aug 2007 17:45:00 +0000

I was extremely happy to see the Shuttle Endeavor land safely in Florida. I didn't completely trust the review NASA performed on the damaged heat tiles.

The Blog

noreply@blogger.com (Charlza) — Wed, 08 Aug 2007 17:47:00 +0000

I have decided to create an area where I can post comments on current events or anything that might come to mind. I don't expect to be posting very often, but I now have a place to do so.