Friday, September 29, 2006

Making the move

For all interested, I am moving this blog to http://wordpress.com. It is not that I don't like this service, but I am having trouble getting Performancing to work with blogger. It seems to be working much better with wordpress. So...here is the link to the new blog: mecoward.wordpress.com

Thursday, September 14, 2006

Work Continues On Logbook

Much of this week has been spent working on my logbook project. The story behind this is that I wanted to code out a logbook of sorts that I can fill out from work when I find the solution to a difficult problem, or just enter a list of steps on how to reproduce something. Much of our time at work is spent trying to figure out what the simulator instructor is trying to tell us. They convey the problems they had with the simulator as if they were talking to another instructor, forgetting the fact that none of us that are going to be working on the problem have every been a C-17 Pilot or Loadmaster. Long story short, when we figure out what they are talking about and how to reproduce it, I wanted somewhere that I could keep track of this, hence my logbook project was born.

I have been using PHP and MySql for a recipe database that my wife and I use to keep up with recipes that we frequently use. I love the way the two work together and backing up the database is so easy, just one command. Thanks to a friend i now have the server e-mail me the backup for safekeeping on another computer. I am using the same idea with this project, this will allow me to create the log entry while the steps/problem is fresh on my mind, instead of hours afterwards.

One of the nice features that i have incorporated into the program is the use of tags. When you put in a log entry, just can enter tags seperated by one space to help identify the log entry to you for easier searching later. This is working very well, the only thing that I am going to have to figure out on it, is to come up with a way to display the tags already in the database for the user to see, to cut down on repetive tags (like light....lights...lighting...etc).

I have included a screenshot of the logbook as it stands right now, i will be posting updates to this once I fine tune the look and feel of it.


Other than that I have not done a whole lot this week. OU is playing Oregon this weekend, should be a good game, hopefully a good game in OU's favor :)

Don't know of anything on the cooking front, I might have to take this weekend off and just go out and get pizza for the game. It has been a long time since we have done that for a football game. The new Sicilian Lasagna Pizza from pizza hut is especially good. To tell the truth, I am still working on left overs from last weekend.

Sunday, September 10, 2006

Cooking On Game Day

Yesterday was the OU Sooners 2nd game of the season (they won 37-20). More importantly that means that it is my day to cook, which i enjoy. I wanted to smoke a brisket and chicken breasts on the grill and Jerusha was making Hot Wings (A perfect snack for a football game).




I decided to try something different at the wife's request with the brisket, she was wondering what it would taste like marinated in allegro for ~30min before being smoked. I usually do a dry rub and let it sit in the refrigerator overnight, but I was up to satisfying her curiosity. I first got my hickory wood chunks soaking in some water




Then proceded to start the brisket and chicken marinating, i like marinating overnight but for this time, i was willing to try out the 30 minute theory. This is just the 3rd time that I have tried smoking meats, The last time I did some baby back ribs and they turned out awsome. This time my goal was the brisket, the chicken was just a "filler" to fill up the grill. So, here is my chicken and brisket marinating in the sink:


Once I got the fire going and the wood chunks put on the fire and smoking good it was time to put the meat on the grill. I let the brisket and chicken smoke for 2hrs at about 275-300 degrees (in the future i will try to bring that down to ~250 degrees). After that the chicken breasts were done and turned out just ok, marinating them in the BBQ sauce was not the best idea ever, when they came out of the smoker they had a "paste" like covering on them, but this is a learning experience. I have found a good recipe for a dry rub that I want to try out on chicken, it is located here. The brisket turned out better, it defiently had a good smoky flavor and using the hickory wood produced good results. It didn't have quite as much flavor as using the dry rub that I normally use (that can be found here), but the wife seemed to like less flavor from the rub and more from the smoke.


So, all in all it was a good day with lots of good food to show for it. I learned some things that will make the food turn out better the next time.

Friday, September 08, 2006

Firefox Extensions that I use

Here is a list of Mozilla Firefox extensions, tips, and such that I am currently running and where they can be found:


Extensions:
  • Delicious Bookmarking Extension - Allows you to post a bookmark to del.icio.us by pressing 1 button
  • Forcastfox Weather Monitor - Great extension that puts the forcast and radar map on the bottom right of your browser
  • Google Browser Sync - Perfect extension for anyone that has multiple computers and needs to keep the data synced across them
  • Bug-Me-Not - Bypass those annoying prompts to sign in to read news articles
  • Performancing - Blog extension for editing and posting blogs from anywhere (It is what I am using to make this entry)
  • Adblock and Filter Set G - Block those annoying little ads in most web pages, also lets you define your own filters.
  • Foxylicious - Have not tried this one yet, but it claims to keep your delicious bookmarks synced into your browser

Tips and Tricks:



Mozilla Projects:
  • Mozilla Firefox - Web browser, enough said
  • Mozilla Thunderbird - E-mail client
  • Mozilla Sunbird - Calendar program that supports using remote files. I am running with a WebDAV file on my FTP server, this allows me to sync my calendar file between all my computers

I will be adding to this list as time goes on, I have many more links that I need to put on here, but cannot find them at the moment (go figure ;))

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First Post

OK......I am going to give this a try, I make no promises. This would actually be a great way to keep notes of things that I do so I would have them for future reference. I am terrible about taking notes when I am doing things on a computer. It seems that once I get going I try to get to the finish line as fast as possible then don't worry about it again until the next time.


Of course the next time maybe 6 months down the road and by then I have totally forgotten everything about what I did (links, commands....etc). I will try to be good about updating this, and hopefully someone out there will find it interesting. Who knows?


Currently the things that occupy my time is working on a PHP/MySql logbook project for use for work, which will allow me to take notes while at work. I have included the ability to add "tags" to aid in searching logbook entries. I have found that two of the things that I cannot live without on the web are tabs (in mozilla firefox of course), and tags for creating multiple easy to remember search terms. I am also working on a decent backup scheme for my website (MySql database data, files, photos...etc). I had coded a python script to do this but it is now outdated and is not backing up all the data that I currently need.


So anyways, that is what is going on around here at the moment.


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