Coffee Crisp Lite

Free TV 101 - Part 8: Attic Hijinx

2009-06-12T11:14:00.005-04:00

Now that I had a longer cable I moved the antenna to the outside on my fence. After a quick rescan of the TV, I found the reception was not as good as when I had the antenna inside. I went off to the attic and find a high spot.

We have cathedral ceilings so the attic goes pretty high. I put the antenna on top of the insulation at one of the highest points and reconnected it to the TV. I was able to find a hole to run the cable back inside. Another quick scan and now I got 26 channels. Wow! Now that’s a lot of free TV.

I found many of the stations that had already gone digital tended to have multiple channels. For example, 27.1, 27.2, 27.3. However, most of these had different broadcasts on each channel. Looked like I now had a lot of choices which included all the major networks, multiple weather channels, several independents, and of course, my ION Life and regular ION. Got to be able to watch MASH and Hogans Heroes.

I repositioned and rotated the antenna on the insulation to see if it would make a difference and it didn’t. There’s still about seven feet of space between the insulation and the peak of the roof. I bolted the antenna to a board and secured it between the rafters as close to the roof as I could. Man, is it hot up there, even at 7AM! Oh wait. I’m out of shape.

It was tough to get between the rafters and find something to stand on while trying to get this thing mounted with screws. Another quick scan and now I got 31 channels. It just kept getting better and better. After looking at my list from the antenna web site, I did’t think I would get much more than those. I had several channels that weren't even on the list.

Today, we will see what happens after the Digital Transition. Stay tuned for Digital Monday.

First ones there

2009-06-11T08:25:00.012-04:00

Remember "National Lampoon Vacation"? When the Griswalds got to WallyWorld, Clark Griswald kept saying, "first ones here". Well, yesterday they opened a new Sam's Club in Morrisville, and as business card members we were invited to the pre opening. We got to the front door as they were cutting the ribbon, and, we were the first ones there!

OK, Ward had to dig out his member card so a few people actually stepped in before we did. But I was able to outrun them to the free food.

These guys came down from Jersey where they run an Italian food firm. They make their own mozzarella, and the owner kept singing out, "fresh mozzarella".

This stand had garlic cheese-filled pasta (really good), quesadillas and chips with mango salsa.

This was one crowded area, where they were giving free cheesecake samples. You could buy one for $12, normally they're $40. We didn't buy one though, we're both on special diets for our health and we'd need a whole cheesecake in the house like a hole in the head.

There was lots of other stuff to sample too: coffee, pastries, sausage, dips, egg rolls, quiche, milkshakes, barbecue, pretzels, breakfast egg & cheese sandwiches, fruit and cheese and grand opening cake. We also came home with the goodie bag filled with chocolate, cookies, OTC drug samples, pens and notepads. All in all, not a bad week day date night.

I HAD to take a picture of this. When was the last time you saw the clothes at a warehouse club stacked this neatly?

Free TV 101 - Part 7: Swapping "The Shack" for "The Depot"

2009-06-11T08:01:00.007-04:00

Sorry there hasn't been any new post for the past two days. I was wrestling with a broken air conditioner, and I just didn't feel like writing a new blog piece in an 86 degree house.

Of course, I went home and quickly set up this Frisbee looking antenna. Connected it with my handy 6’ cable. I put this on top of my TV cabinet and had to rerun the scan on the TV. The learning curve was shorter this time because I remembered to scan first to compare results.

Most impressive! The digital stations were much clearer and for the most part the analogs were acceptable. Still, I could only get only a few more stations with this antenna.

I tried it repositioned but it really didn’t make a bit of difference. Now I quickly realized what I really needed was a long piece of coax so I could move the Frisbee to different locations in the house to hopefully improve reception.

On the Web I found the Shack had a 100' coil of coax that should fill the bill. Wow, they wanted over $50 for this coil. Too rich for me, so I decided that I may have to order from the Internet. I started the search and found I could get a 100' coil at most sites for about ½ the price of Radio Shack. Then I had the revelation: what about Lowes or Home Depot? I checked. Just as I thought -- they had the cable in stock at both these stores for about the same price as the Internet stores. So it was off to The Depot.

Free TV 101 - Part 6

2009-06-08T07:32:00.010-04:00

By Ward

When we left last week, I was testing out my new $60.00 Starship Enterprise-shaped table-top antenna. First, a few more notes about that table-top antenna. You remember I found that the remote was used to rotate the antenna inside the housing to get a better signal. The antenna wants you to set the locations for each channel as you tune it in. Then when you change the TV channel you have to rotate the antenna using the remote. I found this cumbersome, particularly since I had a number of different channels all at different locations. You may need to rescan the channels several times while setting this up.

I liked the possibility of using a larger indoor/attic/outdoor antenna. I thought about how much I was willing to spend on this project and the limit I set was $150.

Radio Shack took the Star Trek antenna back without a problem. I told them what I had tried and asked for additional suggestions. They suggested several options but as for directional vs. omnidirectional, the decision was pretty simple. The folks at The Shack basically said to try the Frisbee-looking antenna next. I had looked at this one on the Internet. It had good reviews and can be used indoors, attic, or outdoors. I now had a $90 antenna and went back home to see how many additional channels I could get with this super Frisbee.

Free TV 101 WEEK 1 SUMMARY - Do it yourself

2009-06-07T12:34:00.003-04:00

Summary of Week 1 for the Do-it-yourselfer

Will you be happy with what’s available for free?

We can still get TV free over an antenna. Now that stations are going digital, you’ll get even more channels and better reception.

Figure out which channels you absolutely need. Think about what you tape or DVR.

Go to www.antennaweb.org to see a list of channels available in your area. Any analog stations will become digital or go away on June 12. Some digital stations are not yet at full strength but will be after June 12.

Decide which antenna you need and where it will go

Cable/satellite service ads may make you believe it’s difficult to receive HD TV over an antenna. It isn’t. In fact, you can get channels with rabbit ears.

You can put an antenna on the roof, in the attic, or right on the TV stand. It doesn’t matter whether you place it inside or out, but the higher you can get it, the better the signal will be.

Are you subject to any Homeowner Association restrictions on an outdoor antenna? Legally, you can put up any antenna no bigger than a satellite dish regardless of what your HOA rules state. It’s an FDA regulation.

You can get an omnidirectional, tabletop antenna for about $60. It will pick up a signal from any direction, however, it doesn’t do that automatically, you have to use a remote to point it.

Other equipment you may need

You'll need a cable to attach the antenna to your TV. That’s not always included.

After June 12 you’ll need one of those digital converter boxes that the government was giving out coupons for to use the antenna on any old analog sets. You don’t need one on a digital set.

First Steps

The connector for the coax cable should be on the back of the set.

You’ll probably have to let your TV scan to find channels. Look for the scan setting on the TV menu. You can also try pulling the power plug out from the wall for a few seconds and putting it back. When you turn on the set the scan should start.

Don’t worry about how badly some analog stations come in, they’ll be going away soon.

Free TV 101 - Part 5

2009-06-05T04:27:00.001-04:00

Check below for Parts 1, 2 , 3 and 4

I discovered the remote is used to rotate the antenna inside the housing to get a better signal. I had assumed because it was omnidirectional it would work regardless of where it is located. Well that was the wrong idea. After playing with the remote for a while I quickly realized this was probably not the antenna I needed. After all, I wanted all the free stuff I could receive.

I was able get about 15 channels after fiddling around and moving the antenna to different locations. All of these turned out to be digital, and the analog stations still looked pretty lousy. I sat back in my easy chair and thought about what I wanted to try next.

The first question I had was how much do I have to spend for this project to get free TV? It’s certain that this particular antenna would not do the job I wanted. I looked on that wonderful WWW and found that Radio Shack had larger indoor/outdoor antennas that may work for me. I also discovered that digital signals are limited to about 60 miles. I looked on my handy printout and found that all the stations that were identified by antennaweb.org are within the 60 mile radius. I also discovered than the higher the antenna can go, the better the reception would be.

From everything I read, it didn’t matter whether it was inside or out. Maybe what I needed was something that will be able to go in the attic or outside on the roof. This meant that it was time to go back to The Shack for a return and new purchase.

We'll have a summary this weekend of the main points for anyone who wants to do-it-themselves, and I'll return on Monday with more meat and potatoes.

Free TV 101 - Part 4

2009-06-04T04:25:00.005-04:00

Part 1 here

Part 2 here

Part 3 here

Radio Shack had a number of styles available depending on where the antenna is to be located. My first choice was a table-top or inside antenna. It looked like the Starship Enterprise from the movie Star Trek. It's omnidirectional, which means it doesn’t matter which direction it points and it can sit on top of the TV cabinet. The folks at The Shack told me this is one of their best sellers for inside antennas. The cost for this adventure was about $60.

Armed with my new antenna I went home watch some free TV. There, I unpacked my new toy. The whole thing looked pretty simple to install; it had a remote control and a 1/2 page instruction manual. Note -- there was no cable included in the box to connect this antenna to my TV, but lucky for me I had a 6 ft. long spare cable left from a previous move. You know, that stuff always accumulates!

I decided to try it on my digital TV rather than use one of the old analog sets. I think it would have worked fine on the analog set if I used the Digital Converter box. Naturally, I connected it up right away and figured I’d read the instructions later.

Having used cable for so long meant it took a while to figure out how to switch inputs on the TV to connect this new toy but I was able to find the coax connection on the back of my TV. It was back there with the rest of the HDMI connections.

Once I got everything hooked up, I still couldn’t get any reception. It was time to break out the book that came with the TV. Right there on page 18 I found the answer. I had to let the TV scan and look for all available channels when using an antenna. After finding the setting on the TV menu, I let the scan begin. It took 10 or 15 minutes to complete. I then sat down in front of the TV with my handy list of available channels (printed from the web) ready to catch my first glimpse of free TV. Of course, you know, I had to do a quick surf to see how many channels I could get regardless of how clear they were. Wow! I got about 20 channels right off the bat. But it turned out only 6 or 7 were clear enough to watch. These were the local ones that had already gone digital. Turned out I needed to read the instruction manual for the antenna after all.

See you tomorrow ;-)

Free TV 101 - Part 3

2009-06-03T04:21:00.000-04:00

Part 1 here
Part 2 here

During my antenna search I found many of the stations that have gone digital now are not operating at their full power. Apparently this will change after June 12th when the “Digital Transition” kicks in. This site also offers lots of FAQ’s. One of my questions is" "can my Home Owner's Association (HOA) prevent me from putting up an outside antenna?" In my case, the answer is no --provided the antenna is no larger than a satellite dish. I suggest you check your HOA restrictions. This helps to make your decision on the type antenna you need. Everyone’s requirements will be a little different. So with this information, I was off to shop for an inside antenna at Radio Shack.

I had looked on-line and determined The Shack was my one-stop shop for various types of antennas, parts and pieces; plus, they have great return policy. Oh, did I mention I found out there’s nothing exotic about HD antennas? The companies that sell cable/satellite services would like you to believe there’s a significant cost and difficulty in receiving free TV. Turns out the folks at The Shack are very helpful explaining the modern day antenna. Gee, it looked just like the one we had at home in the early 60’s -- what a surprise!! It turns out that even the old Rabbit Ears still work well for Digital TVs. I still didn't quite get the VHF/UHF thing, but I know I want to watch free TV if possible!

We're getting into the meat and potatoes tomorrow.

Free TV 101 - Part 2

2009-06-01T16:17:00.001-04:00

Part 1 here

Anybody tired of seeing the advertisement from Time Warner: Home of free HD and in small letters, “with a digital tier service”? How many stations do you really watch? Even better question: have one of those DVR’s? What stations do you religiously DVR? I think you will be surprised to find you probably DVR the same channels week after week. There are exceptions, particularly if you’re heavily into sports and you may be surfing and see that one show you can’t live without. Then you will skim through it and toss it anyway. With several hundred channels it’s difficult to surf and not see something that strikes your fancy!

With cable at $100+ a month, I decided to see what’s available on the antenna for free. I went to a web site, antennaweb.org. I filled in the minimal data they requested—street address and zip. It then gave me the potential list of stations I could receive with the correct antenna. A very interesting site because it lets you look at all available stations including those that are not digital yet. For my location, it gave a mix of about twenty+ stations. This site also provides a street level view that shows the approximate location of the antennas. All had unique colors beside each station identified. I assume this indicates whether I can receive them or not. So looking at this list, I went from several hundred cable stations to only about 20 over-the-air stations (if I can receive them all). It’s kind of disappointing that I didn’t see a few of my favorites – Discovery – Green Network – DIY.

But there's light at the end of the tunnel. See you again tomorrow :-)

Free TV 101 - Part I

2009-05-31T16:14:00.007-04:00

By Ward

Who would have thought in 1960 that we would be paying for TV? What have we come to? I won’t even talk about satellite radio. In 1960 your local TV station sold antennas for about $15. You mounted them on the same pole and pointed them in two different directions to receive three or four different channels. Everyone was happy and life was a lot simpler. Today, you can subscribe to cable or satellite and receive several hundred channels for hundreds of dollars each month. What happened to free TV? Nothing --- it’s still there alive a well. When was the last time you looked?

Part 2 to come Tuesday . . .

Brasa Brazilian Steakhouse

2009-05-13T10:32:00.010-04:00

Our anniversary dinner. First you do the hot/cold buffet. Stuff like salad, jumbo shrimp, rice and beans, chocolate drizzled strawberries . . .

Then they come around with something like 12 different kinds of meats on spears and cut off a piece for you. Pictured is not meat, but pineapple cores coated with sugar and cinnamon then blasted with a blow torch. Yummy.

Our waiter really wasn't a pupiless zombie, it's just a poor cell phone pic.

Sunday's storm

2009-05-13T10:25:00.009-04:00

A "bowed" cell came through, with strong winds that bought down trees and power lines. I could never quite get a shot of our tree in a really good windblown position.

Beet greens for supper

2009-05-08T08:06:00.009-04:00

I've never cooked beet greens before, and probably never would now except that I got a bunch of them in my CSA (community supported agriculture) box yesterday. Below are beet greens on the left, baby bok choy in the middle, and a humongous head of lettuce on the right. On the plate below, I've started to separate the leaves from the stems because the stems take longer to cook.

By the way, when I picked up the box yesterday, I had to ask why we were only getting beet greens. What happened to the beets? Well, these greens get pulled to thin out the beet patch. The beets are there, but they're tiny.

(Beet posing with spice bottle for perspective. Sorry about the blurry cell phone pic.)

The recipe included sauteed scallions and garlic (which also came from the CSA), then water and chopped beet greens. And it was MARVELOUS! Tasted somewhat like cabbage, but milder, and it picked up the flavors it was cooked with (onion, garlic and OIL). But a bunch (actually, 1/2 bunch) of beet green cooks down to about 1/4 of a bowlful.

(Beets posing with tea kettle for perspective.)

Yup, oily and good.

Oh yeah, last week Ward got a tick from the CSA box. This week he held it at arm's length and put it in the trunk.

Springtime in NC

2009-04-28T12:24:00.015-04:00

My office is in one building but my work is sometimes in another. On nice days I like to walk along the lake behind the buildings; here's a tour of what I saw the other day.

The heron on the rock. He likes it there, but sometimes he's on the shore. Then, when you get close, he suddenly takes off, startling you with his prehistoric-like wings.

Nice path? Where does it lead? From the walkway to the building, actually.

Azaleas in bloom.

Momma wood duck had 10 -- count 'em -- 10.

They hang out close to shore in the shallows, then scurry down to the water and swim to the other side when you get close. Wouldn't it be nice if human babies followed so closely without needing to be herded up?

Here is one of two beaver dams. The other was dismantled last year, and this one must have been foreclosed on because I haven't seen beavers here in awhile. But you can see exactly where they dragged the logs across the path. The turtles like to hang out here in the afternoons. It's sort of like a turtle bar.

The Canadian geese are nesting, and the males can be mean. The morning after this one I got chased three times and hissed at. But there's no way to avoid walking past the nests because they build them between the water and the path. One male even came running down the walkway at me, chest all puffed out like a cat trying to look big. I didn't get his picture.

Two years ago, THIS is what I got to see. Bambi junior is watching us watching him. Several workers complained that mom ran at them when they tried to get close to the baby. Duh.

C.H.U.M ten-fifty, Toronto. Pow, pow, pow!

2009-04-15T07:51:00.006-04:00

I just found out that CHUM AM 1050 is gone. Vanished, sold, dead air. Toronto teens grew up with the station, back in a time when AM radio was much more heavily patronized than FM radio. In fact, a lot of car radios didn't even have the ability to tune into FM. I had an official CHUM bug card, and tuned in faithfully every day after school. I once won a Neil Diamond record from them, the first thing I ever won.

I first listened in 1966, on a transistor radio I got for my birthday. Mine looked something like the one on the left. Realize that they're just a bit bigger than the palm of your hand. The on/off switch on mine was so worn I had to press down to make it work.

These babies took one 9 volt battery, which had the life of about 10 milliseconds. I used to kill mine by falling asleep while listening under my pillow.

CHUM put out CHUM Charts for years, and I started collecting them in 1966. I still have mine, and read on eBay they're worth about $4.00 each, more for the ones before 1970, and more for the ones with pictures of famous singers on them. Maybe I should start a side business.

I'll miss CHUM. I haven't lived in Toronto for years, and never listened, but I'll miss just knowing it's around.

See Spot Read

2009-02-20T09:38:00.009-05:00

Last night we took Princess Dog and 100% Dog out to work at a boys and girls center. See Spot Read is a program that lets kids read to dogs. It's much less intimidating and much more fun for them then it would be to read to old people. The girls mauled 100% and I as we were walking in the door then they all fled to maul Princess and Ward. I was impressed with how well behaved everyone was. I now have Green Eggs and Ham memorized -- it seems to be a favorite.

The kids on the couch are waiting their turn. The Maltese on the left is Happy, and she stole the show with her gorgeous long coat (Happy's mom has a lot of work in that!) and her roll over tricks. I'm in the pink sweater reading to a boy who likes to scare his friends in the dark, but only kids, he would never scare an adult.

Princess dog seems non-plussed as Ward reads to a boy who has the sniffles and is just leaning to read. Good thing Ward has daddy credentials.

Here I am with bad hair showing a boy each word as I read to him. 100% Dog is camouflaged on my lap. He wasn't completely thrilled. 100% that is, not the young boy. This was his first reading therapy job and he usually likes to be more active.

Photos are all courtesy of Cindy Golden, Happy's mom.

Lunch at Tossed

2008-11-05T11:57:00.018-05:00

Tossed is a New York based salad restaurant which opened their first N.C. location in Morrisville only a few weeks ago. We'd been meaning to go, and finally did for lunch today.

I was expecting a Panera Bread or Bear Rock clone, but the restaurant wasn't like either. It's layout was more like a Soup 'n' Salad, except that the long veggie bar was for the staff to wreak havoc on, not for me. And the seating didn't have the warmth of Bear Rock. No fireplace and magazines, even though Ward never likes to sit in that spot anyway because the chairs lean too far back to eat.

What it did have was a large salad menu (no surprise), and sandwiches for meat lovers who come along kicking a screaming with their party. Nicest of all, we had a server who brought our food, cleaned up after us, and was every bit as professional as we'd get in a sit-down joint.

I did find it unusual they didn't carry french dressing among their 21 varieties. There was, however, 11 different kinds of oil & vinegar combos. I had only two complaints. The tomatoes were chopped too small and turned to mush in the bottom of the bowl is one. And, my salad was light on "lettuce accessories" -- those extras which make a salad exciting the way pepperoni and onions make a pizza exciting. So, while the salad was very fresh and tasty, I did become bored half-way through.

I had also ordered the turkey vegetable soup which was outstanding. I hate to see what kind of MSG, salt, and soy products were buried in the broth, but I try to leave the healthy eating for home cooking. It's not just that it's easier that way, it would be impossible to eat out otherwise.

Sorry, Nadia, I forgot to take pictures until we were well into our plates.

Oh, and they offered green tea iced tea. Nice touch. I will go back. No tomatoes next time.

Do They Sail to the Bermuda Triangle?

2008-10-23T12:10:00.016-04:00

For some reason, about once a month I get an e-mail from The Yachts of Seabourn. This month they want to get to know me, and tried to entice me to click their link with a pentad of tray-bearing, tuxedoed valets with soggy shoes.

I clicked.

They asked for my name and address, the usual stuff. Then they had a check list, I Dream Of . . . which has items on it such as:

Discovering the kings and Czars of Scandinavia & Russia

and,

Discovering the gilded shrines of Southeast Asia (Asia, India & Arabia)

Maybe someplace where people don't mind getting salt water up their rented tux leg there isn't a recession. But this is their business niche, so good luck to them.

Here's where we have a problem; further down the list they had a Grand Voyage, which they promised to be the "Journey of a Lifetime". But wait a minute -- under that, they had the "Ultimate Voyage". I thought the journey of a lifetime was already the ultimate. Now we have a paradox; an impossibility created by thoughtless and sloppy marketing folks.

I hope the time-space continuum doesn't have a fit.

Come Fly with Me

2008-10-15T11:39:00.009-04:00

On Saturday, RDU had an open house for their new terminal. There were freebies and big-beaked mascots, but the one of the coolest things was to pass through security and know I didn't have to fly anywhere. The absolute coolest was that there *was* no security. It felt like we were in a whole new world order, one where people are actually safe doing day-to-day things and don't need guards, metal detectors and McAffee Firewall.

The in-terminal restaurants had food samples (which we didn't line up for because we had already eaten). But got chocolate money at the newsstand and entered a few drawings.

Here's the Eagle for American Airlines. I can't find his name on the Internet, so I'll just call him "Eggleton" for my Toronto friends. AA held a drawing for air miles and gave out pens, pads of paper and magnets shaped like 737s. We're all stocked up now.

Below, the people mover. And shiny, shiny floors.

These two photos are of check-in, what you see when you first come into the terminal. BTW, all photos are courtesy of my husband and his snappy cell phone.

Courtesy of LOL Cats

2008-10-10T09:25:00.002-04:00

Some much needed smiles courtesy of http://icanhascheezburger.com/. I'll be back with more deep thoughts after I get over having to fish my 401K out from the bottom of the lake.

Warning -- Economic Rant Ahead

2008-10-08T09:01:00.019-04:00

You mind if I rant for a minute in a non-journalistic, CNN kind of way?

What kind of spoiled, deluded egotists run some of the biggest companies in America? Days after I, my friends and neighbors, my coworkers and other Americans gave billions of dollars to AIG, AIG sent executives on a $440,000 resort romp.

Here's what Eric Dinallo, superintendent (intentionally non-capitalized) of the NY State Insurance Department said about it:

". . . the absolute worst thing that could have happened would have been for employees and underwriters in its life insurance subsidiary to flee the company.

"I do agree there is some profligate spending there, but the concept of bringing all the major employees together ... to ensure that the $85 billion could be as greatly as possible paid back would have been not a crazy corporate decision."

I've heard better excuses from panhandlers. Quick! We need to figure out how to pay back the American people for the money their government decided they would give us. To the spa! And unless we get some some royal perks, we'll jump ship. That'll show you. We'll go to, oh, I know. We'll go to work for the Treasury Department.

(To which I would say, No, no, no. Here's more money. Stay put.)

Take it as an investment hint . . .

2008-09-29T13:11:00.015-04:00

There is a web page called "Map of the Market" where you can see at a glance what is happening on Wall Street. The brighter the red, the more the stock has lost. Today the map is a glowing ember.

Click on the controls, and you can ask to see the five top losers and gainers. I found it interesting that earlier today two of the top five gainers were Campbell Soup and Molson Coors Brewing.

I guess that means investors realize that in tough times, we'll all still need our comfort food and beer.

Weekly Wrapup

2008-09-26T10:37:00.013-04:00

On the Bank Meltdown: I can't remember who said this, and as a good journalist I should cite my sources, but then again, this isn't the N&O it's only my blog. So I'll just say the speaker was one of the government figures in this financial mess. He said, and I don't quote, because I can't . . . it is a bad idea to cap bank executive's pay and bonuses because the people who did the damage are already gone, and a cap would hinder the ability to hire new executives. I do remember he used the word "mediocre" as in, we would only be able to attract mediocre talent. I guess mediocre talent isn't as good as high-priced talent; like the high-price talent who bought the country to this brink of financial collapse in the first place? Hmmm.

New in Morrisville: Yesterday we looked at the new "urban" flats at Grace Park. The project was originally intended as condominiums, but was switched over to rentals because of the housing slowdown and a problem with obtaining permits to complete a large project in one swoop. As a result, the model suites were very nice, but, you could see where they cut back. For one thing, an elevator shaft is roughed out, but there will be no elevator. Another thing; the agent said they have the new "acid wash concrete" floors, and said it like that was a good thing. To me it was clearly a way to save money on floor covers over the concrete. It was cold, unattractive and caused her high heels to echo. But apparently it's "the latest". So when did they start acid washing concrete instead of jeans?

In Conclusion:
This is why I love my pets. They are my link to nature that I lose in civilization. Even if they understood what the talking heads on CNN and MSNBC say, the news would be meaningless. They don't need to own property and don't care about the latest upscale amenities. They don't get chewed out because they made a political judgement error at work and if they did they wouldn't need an aspirin later at home to fix the headache. Every day when I get home, I'm greeted by the same, happy, natural creatures despite what happened to me during the time I was away. So tonight, let's all drink a toast to our pets, and give them an extra treat for being nature's perfect barometers of what's really important.
(Photo courtesy of Betty France Photography http://www.mwt.net/~bbfrance/)

Something Else About the Economy No-one's Told You

2008-09-23T09:26:00.014-04:00

As to the spinning vortex which is this current economy -- I think we're all trying to work out whether we're being slowly pulled into the abyss at the center (as my coworker put it) or just riding in a storm cell as per usual. I'll give you something new to think about. A singular event that happened yesterday which I haven't heard about from the major news sources.

I wanted to buy some silver coins. I started out at Kitco.com, an excellent source. Here's what they had on their website:

The following products have been temporarily removed from our Precious Metal Store until further notice due to production and delivery delays that retailers are currently facing; 1 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Kitco Gold bars, 10 oz Gold bars, 1 oz Silver Eagles, 1 oz Silver Maples, 1 oz Silver Philharmonic coins, 1 oz Olympic Silver Maples, 100 oz Silver bars and 1 oz Palladium Maples.

The only silver left were 1000 ounce bars. (That's more than 60 pounds.) I went over to Tulving.com and looked at their inventory. They were sold out of all silver (coins, bars and rounds of various sizes) except for 500 coin boxes, $1000-less-than-pure bags of coins, and, yes, 1000 ounce bars.

Bullion Direct? A pittance on inventory; a flea market would have more.

A-Mark? Some stock, but a high markup.

All sites warned of shipping delays.

I called one of the dealers who'd been in business for 30 years. "This is a dumb question," I said, "but how often does the supply of silver get this low? Is it unusual?"

"It's unprecedented." He answered.

My husband asked if this was because people were hoarding silver, but the broker declined to give an opinion.

So should you buy precious metals? Well, if you believe the economy will go back to normal, then probably not. Everyone who wants precious metal will have their supply, eventually things will get better, they'll sell and the price will have nowhere to go but down.

What if you believe the sky is falling? Then I guess you might want to have some, but 1000 ounce bars are really hard to carry to the Quick-E Mart. The clerk may not be able to make change either.

Before you panic in this economic crisis, remember this: if the economy does collapse and the US goes into depression, all those tech and manufacturing jobs that went overseas will come back.

The State of Morrisville breakfast and other opportunities to miss work

2008-09-22T14:40:00.013-04:00

The Morrisville Chamber of Commerce held a State of Morrisville breakfast last week. The tables assignments were pre-marked, and since Ward and I could find no sign that said Dissenters and Trouble-Makers, we sat at Open Seating. I had mini quiches and pineapple-orange juice. Ward had mini danish since real men only eat real quiche.

Here's some of the more interesting points:

Grace Park
They are holding an open house on Thursday, Sept. 25 from 12-3. They promise food, but it looks like you'll have to play hooky from work to attend. And when you see us there . . . we won't tell if you won't.

Wake County
Nothing to do with Morrisville, but interesting if you're watching the economy -- Wake County has a $45 million, AAA bond to sell, but can't sell it. No bank is buying municipal bonds right now.

Duke Health Care Clinic
The urgent care clinic is slated to open Nov 10 with 6 urgent care doctors, 6 primary physicians, 2 specialists and high-end imaging equipment. Their hours will be 8am - 8pm, but they didn't say whether they were open on weekends.

Roads
The DOT speaker spouted off a list of Morrisville projects. Ho hum, I can get that info from the web, and he went too fast for me anyway. But he said some notable things about roads in N.C. in general:

The cost of construction has doubled from 2002 to 2007. I don't know how they arrived at this number, but North Carolinians have driven 52.4 billion miles less this year. This means a $24 million bite out of gas taxes for the DOT coffers. Also, only Texas has more total road miles in their state, our infrastructure is aging, and NC DOT falls further behind each year on bridges that need replacing.

Retail
The retail speaker was a salesman who spoke twice as long as his allotted time. But I did glean these points from him:

First, a hot tip: The clothing market is soft right now. Go to T.J. Maxx in 60-90 days to pick up bargains as the unsold stock rolls over.

And on Park West: They have 60% of their space committed but can't name names yet. They promise to start road improvements in the fall. That's today; should I drive over and check?

Revenge of Poochy Boy

2008-09-18T10:09:00.006-04:00

Last night I was back to cajoling Poochy Boy to eat his new food. I decided to try putting some on his paw again, and had to lean over to him to get this done. When I got close, he suddenly sprang up and hit me square in the face. I actually tripped and fell over backward with PB on top of me. Then I saw he had a glob of Country Pet wet cat food in his paw. He shoved it towards my mouth and meowed loudly. I was quite disorganized at the moment, but I could swear he said, "You eat it!"

Gotcha. Actually the score is now CoffeeCrispLite: 1, Poochy Boy: 3 which makes us both winners.

The tuna juice-fusion won him over. I mashed it in his wet food. Also, by now PB was tired of getting only 3/4 rations (we had to pick up the dog food because we actually caught PB eating it. And the dogs watched him do it and just sat there.)

Later that night I gave him more without the tuna juice and he finished if off. Hopefully there will be no regressions.

The Darkening of The Dog

2008-09-16T14:04:00.006-04:00

I was going through some old pictures. Can you believe this is the same dog? Has she been dying her hair while we're at work?

Princess Dog at two

Princess Dog at three

Princes dog at five

I can promise you the color change is not a trick of the camera. We noticed her getting darker over the years. When we came to pick her up after her first surgery (when she was four) her face was so different I thought they gave me the wrong dog.

Still Teaching the Cat What Food is

2008-09-16T08:27:00.009-04:00

Today's tally:
CCLite: 0
PBoy: 3 (maybe).

At 6am, The Pooch (that's him on the left) gets 1/2 his daily food allotment in familiar dry form. By dinner he's hungry for more and that's when he gets the Country Pet wet, real food slid under his nose.

Last night I heated it up again. Oooh, smell that?

No reaction.

I sprinkled on the Parmesan which Dr. Lisa says cats love. No reaction.

I heated it up again. Cat food lasagna. I think I see Garfield drooling at the window. PB takes one sniff and turns away.

I mashed it some more; into a puree. I put some on his paw again. I dipped a kernel of hard food into it and offered him the chip dip.

Then I went outside and got the grass -- several blades of Grade A, Premium tall fescue -- PB's weakness. I put them on top of the wet food and gently pressed them into the mix. I left the kitchen and peeked in from the living room.

PB went for it. He dug out every blade and in the process, I figured he decided the food was good too. I thought I would cry for joy. But when he was done and I rushed in to check the result, the wet food was still there. That's where the "maybe" from this blog entry's opening paragraph comes in. Maybe he actually ate some of the wet food, or maybe I'm just being optimistic. Afterward he would eat no more.

Later that evening I tried pushing a piece of cooked chicken into the food, and finally dripped tuna juice over the whole concoction. It was still a no-go with PB, but by this time who could blame him since it really was just a microwaved, pureed, grass-stained, fish-smelling, cheese-smothered mess.

Which made a nice bite-size bedtime treat for the dogs.

Teaching the Cat what Food is

2008-09-15T13:48:00.026-04:00

Poochy Boy and I faced off this weekend. The tally so far is CoffeeCrispLite: 0, PB: 2.

As I explained in an earlier blog entry, at 11 years old (which is 60 to another cat) I want to change The Pooch over to a healthier, wet cat food. On Saturday I bought home my carefully researched choice: Country Pet, which comes in frozen sausage form.

PB needs to be slowly weaned onto this delightful REAL food product, whose first ingredients are chicken, fish, beef and lamb; not chicken, brewers rice, poultry by-product and corn gluten meal like in Purina One. So for dinner, instead of crunchy crap, PB got ever such a slight serving of moist meat.

He had no idea what it was. For all he knew I had just put mud in his bowel. Which by-the-way, he would eat. He wouldn't eat this.

Veterinarian Lisa A. Pierson, on her web site, says any cat can be weaned onto wet food. You just have to be patient enough. Back at home, I tried heating it up, making a chip dip out of it with his regular food as the chip, mixing his regular food into the new one and mixing the new one into his regular food, none of which worked.

I then put a dab on The Pooch's paw. True to his cat-like powers of keen perception, he didn't even notice what I had done. Then he shook his paw and realized there was something there. He licked it off. He liked it. But when he was done, he lay down next to the bowl of new food and promptly ignored it again.

Tonight I will try Dr. Pierson's "tuna on top" and "Parmesan cheese" tricks. I also have one of my own ruses, sprinkling fresh-picked fescue grass on top -- sort of a California Style Feline Ragout.

Caption Competition!

2008-09-12T08:11:00.005-04:00

I told you Fred, unless it says "Fox News" on the camera, ignore them.

Can you do better? Leave a comment.

Coyotes of Morrisville

2008-09-12T07:40:00.010-04:00

Hard to believe, but some neighbors said they've seen a coyote in the subdivision, and not the kind that dances on bars, the furry kind. Range maps show that coyotes don't habitat east of the Appalachians but, lo, if there wasn't an article on WRAL.com back in August that says coyote sitings are on the rise all over the state. They've even been spotted in downtown Raleigh.

Wikipedia says that coyotes will mate with domestic dogs, but I don't think that's what Princess and 100Percent dogs have to watch out for.

To scare off a coyote just make a lot of noise. Don't worry. I will.

Coyotes are a much worse problem in California where people feed them, making them unafraid of humans.

The ABC Happy Hour

2008-09-11T10:50:00.009-04:00

Sometimes it gets depressing to research sustainable food and Morrisville events. The government too often takes the side of big agriculture and our town council too often supports high density development. This is probably why the blog has been so quiet lately.

So today I declare a happy hour. Enjoy the ABCs of San Francisco:

Art

Beer

(That's a sampler plate)

and California dining

(A less alcoholic sampler plate)

Weekly Wrapup for a Quiet Week

2008-09-05T10:44:00.006-04:00

Hanna Update - Forecast now to be a rain event for Raleigh, with 2-1/2 inches of rain and gusty winds.

Morrisville - Stay tuned for important news. For a preview, check out Jackie's September 3 entry on 'Tis About Morrisville, and scroll down on the Morrisville Action Committee's website for an article titled: Critical Planning Decisions to be Turned Over to Town Staff?

Hanna's coming -- hide the cinnamon buns

2008-09-03T10:01:00.018-04:00

We are preparing for Hurricane Hanna, due to hit us on Saturday. Here's the projected track:

It's fast moving so hopefully it won't cause problems but I will not forget the lessons I learned from Hurricane Fran in 1996, a storm whose eye came right over me.

1. Lengthy power outages are the main concern. Have some Sterno or an outdoor grill or there'll be no morning coffee. Picture trying to boil a pan of water that's on a bent coat hanger perched over a herd of candles. That's how desperate I was, and it didn't work.

2. Don't figure that cans of fruit, vegetables, beans, and tuna will tide you over until the store opens, no matter how many cans you have. The day after a hurricane you only want cinnamon buns, chips, and cold spaghetti-o's. Dang the sustainable healthy. Your body will demand junk.

3. If you don't have your D-cell battery supply by the time the storm is announced, forget it. They're gone from every store shelf in town. And have enough so you aren't afraid to use them because you now realize that this isn't Toronto and power doesn't go out for one night, it goes out for days or weeks.

4. Gas up the car or you'll end up like my friend who asked me to drive to see if we could find ice. She had to be the terrified passenger while I maneuvered around fallen power lines and trees. She probably would have preferred to be the terrified driver. It's a control thing.

5. Figure out a way to have cold beer because then you can bring some down to the radio station and a grateful DJ will say your name on the air.

6. Go to the supermarket early to stock up. Then go back to the supermarket the day before the storm to rubberneck. Stay away from the bananas, bread and water sections or you'll get trampled.

7. When the storm hits, turn the A/C down to polar frigid. If there's no power the next day you'll still be cool and will have the most popular house in town. That way you can get your visitors to bring Sterno, D-cell batteries, and beer.

A brief intermission for Labor Day

2008-09-02T10:33:00.004-04:00

Apparently they're making dogs in pill form now.

Just add water.

Deep thoughts about Morrisville, sustainable eating, therapy dogs, and more is on the way.

The Legend of 100% Long Little Doggie

2008-08-28T13:31:00.020-04:00

You stay here, Lucky. I'm going after the sidewinders who stole my cows.

Pardon my intrusion, ma'am, but have you seen 36 head of longhorn cattle pass your way? They went missing while me and the boys were fixing the brakes on the Silverado.

Excuse me, partner, have . . . my, but you're a tall one, ain't ya? Mind if I climb on your head and see if I can situate my longhorns?

To be continued . . .

Wednesday Night with Sylvie

2008-08-28T07:19:00.038-04:00

I thought you might like to see one of our Therapy Dog classes with Sylvie's K9 Solutions

Here's 100% dog (complete with therapy class bandanna) in rapt attention to his handler. . . er, his daddy.

Here's my other favorite, Gracie, the Pembroke Corgi. My friend at Yasashiikuma raises Cardigan Corgis and says you can tell the difference between the types by the 'broke' part on the Pembroke'. Wanna see where?

Walk and sit your dog. Walk and sit your dog . . .

100% Dog needs a little help. Hope the teacher isn't looking.

Gracie shows him how it's done.

Holding the dog correctly for some loving.

Do you wanna pet my dog?

Sure do!

Stranger test!
100% lets Syvlie cuddle him and passes with flying bandannas. This is a test? Piece of cake for 100P.

Gracie keeps all four paws on the ground for this exercise.

The 'don't be startled by humans with junk' exercise.
Pardon my walker

It's just an umbrella, silly!

So where was Princess Dog during all this? On my lap, of course.

She has the option to join the class, but complains about old back surgeries whenever she'd rather just lounge around.

Another quiz for the bored

2008-08-25T12:23:00.003-04:00

Do you think you know the 100 most common words in the English language? To try the quiz click: words and start entering those words. I got 48 in five minutes, but only got 2 from the top 10.

Chain of Foods

2008-08-22T14:53:00.013-04:00

The Toronto Star says university researchers tested the DNA of 100 supermarket and restaurant fish and found 25% was mislabeled. This isn't terribly surprising considering how many stops there are in our food supply chain, and how hard it is to tell fish apart once it's been filleted.

And speaking of Ontario, an outbreak of Listeria there has killed four people. Same story as we've seen here in the states with tomatoes and peppers -- huge recall, not sure about the source, large food company had to close to clean up anyway took a dive in its stock price. Our food safety really is much better than it was years ago, but it could be better still if only the industry would slow down a little, keep better records and do more training.

Here's a good example. NaturalNews reports the FDA wants to start irradiating lettuce and spinach to kill e.coli. The problem is irradiation may destroy nutritional value. I can see why the FDA is doing this -- bacterial outbreaks are deadly and very hard to trace. The last one was devastating to tomato growers before we found out that Mexican peppers, not U.S. tomatoes were the culprit. So a decision which supports business and kills a deadly bacteria seems like a win-win. Nutrition? Well, many people believe Americans already get a nutritious diet. But we don't, and the big win-win would be that modification to our food supply chain mentioned above.

Weekly Wrapup - Microsoft and Morrisville

2008-08-22T09:07:00.015-04:00

From my workplace: The S(c)pammers are actually getting smarter. They realize now that poorly-worded, misspelled, shoddy-looking e-mails that scream at you to "send this to everyone in your address book" aren't fooling anybody anymore (or most anybody). The latest virus-generating e-mail looks like it comes from Microsoft with links to a security update. You only need to remember Microsoft does not send security updates through e-mail.

From my neighborhood: Orange, striped barrels in a flock! Surveyors, and the tattle-tale sign of disappearing trees. Construction is actually on at Morrisville-Carpenter Road and 54.

From my email: I promised an update on the newly sold (actually, under contract) vacant lot next to Morrisville Square link. Morrisville's planning Director wrote that the land is indeed zoned O&I, but will be translated over to High Density Residential since it is part of the Town Center Plan. Now get this. Only about 20% of the property is buildable because the rest is in a 100 year flood plain. Whoever spent $1.1 million for that will need to get their money's worth.

What the World Eats

2008-08-21T10:41:00.009-04:00

At the right is a link to my favorite blogs, including My Money Blog, which today has it's own link to a Time photo essay: What the World Eats. Here's the link: Time

Very interesting from a foodie POV. Although one family does not a country represent, I think the magazine tried to find consumers who were average for their areas of the world. Here's some things I noticed as I clicked through the photos:

1. All the world loves pizza.
2. And Coke.
3. Americans don't eat nearly enough fresh fruit and vegetables.
4. Britons do love their sweets.
5. The bigger the economy, the more prepackaged foods.
6. If you have two teenage sons you go through a lot of chips.
7. Germans pay an uber lot for food, and a good deal of it is in drink form.
8. Wherever you go in the world, a lot of people don't smile for the camera.

The most shocking thing was seeing the scant items laid out for the family of four from Chad. Outside of some bags of gain, they barely had the equivalent what might fall off of a Food Lion truck during packing.

Around the World in 80 Rolls

2008-08-20T08:17:00.005-04:00

Belgrade is the new North Carolina. That is, on the Monopoly board.

Hasboro is putting out an international edition Monopoly game and who knew there was a vote on which cities should have the honor of being properties? Even more surprising -- Montreal, the cosmopolitan Canadian city where Europe and North America meet at the deli, got top spot.

Toronto is so proud to be on the board (it got into the purples) that the city is holding a celebration this afternoon at Ontario Place.

Here, then, is the list of lucky cities Chance. Points to anyone who doesn't have to look up that last city to see where it is. (and remember to save those points!)

All Your Brain Belong to Us

2008-08-19T08:45:00.014-04:00

I read that the American Journal of Psychiatry says compulsive E-mailing is now considered an illness according to psychiatrists. (Actually it's all part of "Internet Addiction", but the E-mailing headline caught my eye because I am an E-mail administrator. Our 350 or so active users take a 2 gigabyte bite out of my disk space every day. I remember when a desktop computer didn't even come with 2 gigabytes on it.)

The problem isn't just E-mail, but other online pursuits like playing games, an area where I myself might be on the edge. The bad news is that Internet addiction is resistive to treatment. The good news is that I am up to 4 million points on Slingo.com.

I had always read it was debatable whether compulsive Internet use was a true addiction. But if you've ever seen the phones light up at a call center when E-mail went down, you'd be convinced there is surely some brain-web connection. I'd be interested in your thoughts.

Weekly Wrapup

2008-08-15T09:40:00.015-04:00

From the Toronto Star: A investigative report turned up complaints against a moving company that held customer's goods for ransom until they got $1500 above the original estimate. They were clearly breaking the law, but felt they could get away with it because the police said it was a matter for the courts, the courts denied jurisdiction, and the attorney general referred it back to the courts. A sidebar says if it happens to you, contact the Ministry of Consumer Services. Yeah. Call the government. That'll speed things up.

From Morrisville: See that big, red "Sold" sign by the vacant lot next to Morrisville Square? The seller had advertised the property zoned as Office and industrial, but approved for high density residential. Morrisville's zoning map has no high density res' indications there. Was it just a sales ploy? I hope so, and I wrote to the Planning Director to find out.

Michale Pollan's The Omnivore's Dilemma warns about industrialized organic foods. I hoped he was just being an alarmist, but last week's recall of ground beef delivered to Whole Foods from Coleman Natural Beef shook me up. I bought ground beef from Whole Foods during the recall period. When I checked the label, I found I had fortunately chosen the local grass fed stuff. In July Full Circle dairy got a letter from the FDA for an infraction discovered five months earlier, which actually happened seven months before that (or a year ago).

From the homefront: The dogs are doing a great job in Pet Therapy training, and Poochy Boy started on Cosequin to relieve arthritis. Cosequin is supposed to work gradually, but Poochy has come alive during our morning exercise time.

Now even the Cat Needs to shop at Whole Foods

2008-08-13T12:02:00.012-04:00

It's enough to think about what's in people food without the added burden of pet food. Articles are coming online now about glutamate, animal by-products and unregulated foreign ingredients going into pet food and these are not good things.

At home, along with Princess Dog and One-Hundred Percent Dog, we also have a gray, striped tabby: Poochy Boy. I don't have a picture right now, but here's a reasonable facsimile of what he would look like if he were solid white, thinner, and drunk.

(I know this picture isn't in the general domain, but darn if I can find the right owner to give credit.)

Anyway, Poochy Boy needs to change over to a special renal diet, and when I looked at the local vet prescription food, the twice-the-cost-of-quality-pet-store food, the first ingredient was animal by-products.

In the wild cats eat their prey whole, by-products and all. But these pet food animal by-products can be anything, even FDA-rejected meats. If I'm going to pay fillet mignon prices for cat food I don't want the main component to be some leftover, unlabeled, rejected ingredient.

So now I have to source some good quality critter food. A lofty project for a cat that eats catnip off the living room carpet.

Weekly Wrapup - The Weirdness of US

2008-08-08T11:50:00.001-04:00

From yesterday's NC17: Tyson Foods recalled 51,000 pounds of frozen raw chicken breast tenderloin because it may have contained undeclared soy. Are we the only country in the world whose raw chicken breast actually contains other food?

From last week's N&O: IBM received $750,000 in incentives from Durham County to build their new cloud computing network center in RTP. The Center will employ 10 people. That's $75,000 in taxpayer money per employee. Worth it? Some old time IBMers I know said those 10 employees will be offshore folks working remotely. They may have been joking, I don't know.

From last month's AP: "An AP-Yahoo! News poll found that pet owners favor McCain over Obama 42 percent to 37 percent, with dog owners particularly in McCain's corner." Before I vote, I want to know how the numbers change when you include Cyber pets and Chia Turtles.

Morrisville Updates

2008-08-07T11:54:00.012-04:00

Rendering of Park West Village courtesy of Castro Group
Park West Village
Tenants will be announced soon. They have an anchor store but have not said who it is.

Walgreens
Davis Drive & Morrisville-Carpenter opening scheduled for end of August.

Walmart
- Hwy 54 & 540 store opening planned for January 2009 (though I wouldn't be surprised if they moved that to before Christmas).

- Hwy 54 & 540 Sam's Club opening planned for March 2009.

Land Use Transportation Plan
- Public can comment to the Planning Board at their August 14 meeting

- Public can comment to Town Council at their October 28 meeting

I was With the Program Until I Reached Chapter III-2

2008-08-07T10:03:00.005-04:00

Deep into Michael Pollan's In Defense of Food, the author and I were on the same page (if you will) until I got to the chapter titled "Eat Food: Food Defined".

The book exposes the evils of our industrialized food chain, and this chapter revealed Pollan's full agenda -- to solely eat whole food. I think it was his reference to eating as our great-grandmas ate that flashed the amber light for me. I didn't know my great-grandma, but I imagine food was something she labored over up to six hours a day, every day, except the sabbath which she probably thanked God for each Friday as the sun went down.

I know I don't have to slaughter my own chicken or draw well water, but the thought of cooking everything from scratch, not to mention dealing with the shorter shelf life of whole food is daunting. I work, have hobbies, friends, and cable. My mental picture of a total dedication to whole foods is one where women's lib is set back 80 years.

I can see social advantages to some packaged food. The convenience frees us all to do other things. I'll probably keep my kitchen at around 80% wholeness, as long as the convenience foods on my shelves don't have high fructose corn syrup, hydrogenated fats or any varieties of MSG. And I'll keep buying my meat directly from local farmers. Happy livestock don't cost me anything but a few extra dollars.

Sorry if I disappoint you, Michael Pollan, but you really hit a nerve with that great-grandma thing.

Bored? Try These

2008-08-06T15:13:00.004-04:00

I fielded a complaint the other day that the blog was getting boring. I admit I've been stymied; there's nothing going on. To tide you over until the world gets back to business in September, here's some of my more interesting weblinks:

Map of the Market
http://www.smartmoney.com/map-of-the-market/
Use the controls to see the market for the last 26 weeks. Not much in the way of green there.

Flight Aware
http://flightaware.com/
Visually track all US/Canadian flights by airport, operator, aircraft.

Unclaimed Balances (Canadian)
http://ucbswww.bank-banque-canada.ca/scripts/search_english.cfm

Le Piano Graphique
http://www.pianographique.com/
Create music with your keyboard.

2 Minute Primer: Magnesium and You

2008-08-06T08:32:00.014-04:00

Yesterday I read in two separate places that Americans probably don't get enough magnesium. Industrial fertilization causes crops to lose magnesium and food processing wipes out even more. So here's your 2 minute primer on magnesium:

Here's what it takes care of:
Nerve function, muscle function (including heart rhythm), immune system, bones, blood sugar, blood pressure, digestion of other nutrients.

Here's where you get it:
Halibut, (organic) green veggies, beans and peas, nuts and seeds, unrefined grains, potato skins.

Here's what will happen to you if you don't have enough:

The government line from the National Institute of Health:
Appetite loss; fatigue, weakness and nausea; muscle contractions and spasms; abnormal heart rhythms.

The alternative health line from Mark Sircus Ac., OMD writing for naturalnews.com
As stated above, plus: migraines and headaches, increased toxicity, glaucoma, Alzheimer's disease, recurrent bacterial infections, fungal infections, behavioral disorders, pms, mood swings, tooth cavities, hearing loss, diabetes type II (a partial list).

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Some researchers also think magnesium is more important than calcium in preventing osteoporosis.

It's unlikely you'll get too much magnesium through diet, but beware that you can get too much if you take supplements.

You're probably smart enough to know, but this 2 minute report is for information only and not to be taken as medical advice.

Some Summer Events

2008-08-05T14:55:00.005-04:00

For you Coffee Crisp Lite readers in the Raleigh area, Thursday is Watermelon Day at the State Farmers Market. There will be a $600 prize for the largest watermelon, a watermelon eating contest, and a visit from the NC Watermelon Queen.

Saturday is Gourd Day. There is no Gourd Queen; imagine that.

Cherokee Nation

2008-08-04T11:08:00.008-04:00

FX's 30 Days sent the host, Morgan Spurlock to live on an Indian Reservation. Spurlock chose to spend a month with the Navajo Nation and the episode was very interesting. I would have chosen to go with the Eastern Band of Cherokees, who live close by in the western part of North Carolina. I've been to the reservation in Cherokee, NC, but I would be interested to see life off of U.S. 441.

The picture above is from the Museum of the Cherokee Indian. Am I alone in thinking the figure on the right looks like Bruce Willis?

Weekly Wrapup

2008-08-01T10:34:00.013-04:00

There is NOTHING NEW going on. That's pretty much summer for you.

Signs have gone up on Morrisville-Carpenter Road, just like promised.

100PercentDog has started Therapy Dog Training (or we have, since most of the classes are to train us.)

And the new McDonald's at Davis Drive is open.

Another slow news day in Morrisville.

The Next Wave of Healthcare

2008-07-31T09:48:00.015-04:00

Last month I interviewed Mary Lou Powell, Rex Healthcare's Senior VP of Patient Care Services and Nursing for an article. She was most interesting to talk to, and said something that makes fuel for a good discussion. When I asked Powell what we could do to improve our hospital care, one answer was that families should come up with a system to be involved with their hospitalized ones. "That will be the wave of the future," Powell said.

Picture a spouse, parent, or adult child competently filing in for an aide. It evokes something out of a Victorian novel where the family keeps a vigil by the bedside of the sick.

Years ago my mother stayed with me five days post surgery. Mostly she hollered for the nurse when I needed something and oversaw that staff did things right. I don't think this is what Powell was thinking.

Then there's family members that can be more needy than the patient. And what about the family caretaker who thinks they know better than the nurse? And doesn't.

How could this type of partnership be made to work?

Shock and Roll is Here to Stay?

2008-07-30T15:25:00.010-04:00

After that 5.4 quake east of LA on Tuesday, I watched CNN for an hour as they tried desperately to find something worthy of "Breaking News". If you want to see some scientific data for the quake area, here's excerpts from the US Geological Survey and Caltech.

Probability of an aftershock in the next 7 days (from July 29):

Strong Aftershocks (Magnitude 5 +) 30%
Earthquakes larger than the mainshock - approx 5-10%
Weak aftershocks (Magnitude 3-5) - approx 12 to 40 quakes

Shake Movie of July 29 event
Courtesy of Caltech Seismological Laboratory

Label Ambush

2008-07-30T09:01:00.010-04:00

Some people react badly to MSG (monosodium glutamate). Others think it's a long-term health hazard. (Personally I believe it is toxic to the nervous system.) If you're one of these people, be aware that MSG is, or might be, contained in other additives, so look for these on the label:
- anything with hydrolized, glutamate, protein, enzyme or caseinate in the name
- Textured protein
- Yeast nutrient
- Autolyzed yeast
- Carrageenan
- Natural flavoring

Now that you know what to look for, if you find it's hard to get packaged foods without these additives -- surprise!

Meet One-Hundred Percent Dog

2008-07-28T13:58:00.007-04:00

Whereas Princess Dog has a lot of "cat" in her, her companion, One-Hundred Percent Dog, is well . . . just that.

He can't resist a thrown toy, a pack activity, or another dog's bark.

100PDog is a liver-colored Shih Tzu. He has no black on him anywhere, hair or skin. His nose is violet, his eyes brown. When he sits next to Princess Dog they look like photo negatives of each other.

Eating at the Fourth Level of Bliss

2008-07-28T08:27:00.017-04:00

When you bring home meat from the grocery store and use it in your most favorite dish, it's wonderful. But that's only eating at the first level of bliss.

Go to the butcher section, or someplace like Fresh Market, and get that same cut of meat (beef, chicken, pork) without antibiotics or hormones and use that in your favorite dish. If you're old enough, you'll say it tastes like meat you remember. Also there are now less antibiotics and hormones in the population. That's the second level with a bonus bliss for all.

Now take it up another notch. Go someplace like Whole Foods and get an organic cut. This may spoil you for grocery store meat because the final dish will be moister with more flavor then you're used to. It may just be healthier too. Third level bliss additions for all: less agricultural pollution, less reliance on foreign oil, better treatment of the animals.

Ready for the fourth level of dining bliss? Look for locally produced and slaughtered, grass-based meat. (Try a farmer's market, or do a web search for CSA or Metropolitan Buying Club.) You are now eating what five-star chefs serve. The bliss bonus: Natural and humane treatment of the animals, much more efficient use of resources, even less reliance on foreign oil, and improved local economy. The best thing? You know where your meat comes from the next time there's an e-coli scare.

Secret Keystrokes for your Cell Phone

2008-07-24T08:44:00.011-04:00

There are keystrokes to check your cell phone usage. Dial the code then press CALL. The call is free.

Verizon
To Check Balance #225
To Check Minutes #646
To Check Data Use #3282

T-Mobile
To Check Balance #225#
To Check Minutes #646#
To Check Data Use #674#

AT&T
To Check Balance *225#
To Check Minutes *646#

Sprint/Nextel
Voice Menu for All *4

For Verizon, T-Mobile and AT&T, you call, and a report gets text messaged back to your phone. Mine looked like this:
MINs Remaining
As Of: 06/26
Anytime: 650
N&W: 5,000 (Nights & Weekends)
M2M: Unlimited (Mobile to Mobile)
RO: 4,995 (Rollover)
RO exp: 450 on 07/23/07 (Rollover Expiring)

Princess Dog Part 2

2008-07-23T08:02:00.010-04:00

It's time for Princess Dog again, or maybe I should say Empress Dog, since Shih Tzus used to be the exclusive property of the royal Chinese family.

Today Princess Dog is contemplating why there are people in the house, yet her belly's not being rubbed. There's no excuse for it.

My canine breeder-shower friend, Shelley, can tell from a picture how confident a dog is in a situation. This amazes me. But I can tell from a picture how close my dog is to a bark. This one is coming in about 3 seconds.

How Green Was My Thumb

2008-07-22T12:40:00.006-04:00

Robin Lloyd, senior editor at LiveScience.com had an interesting article on Yahoo News yesterday. It seems the botanical classifications for our produce are not what we commonly think. (http://www.livescience.com/health/080722-fruit-what-is.html if you want to read it for yourself.)

I'm a horrible gardener, but each March I feel compelled to seize the opportunity that it's the one time of year to plant and so I do.

Here's my take on how to tell one botanical plant from another:

- If it died because we got a 90 degree day in April, it was probably a legume.
- If it died because I tripped over it, it was probably a berry.
- If the bugs ate it between the time I planted it and the time I got back with the watering can, it was probably a fruit.
- If it never got planted because there isn't enough room, it was probably a leafy green.

This year I do have a successful stevia crop. Guess that's an herb.

The French Delicious

2008-07-21T10:34:00.007-04:00

There is something called "The French Paradox" that helps explain why North Americans are bad at weight and diet-related health issues. While in France I enjoyed being on the winning side of the paradox.

Imagine eating dessert like this every day without guilt. Those are individual cream puffs drizzled with caramel.

According to The Omnivore's Dilemma, the French can eat like this because they make meals a lengthy event, don't go back for seconds, and don't eat alone.

"Where's My Road" continues . . .

2008-07-21T07:49:00.010-04:00

Photo courtesy of atom.smasher.org
If you look back at my original post, you'll see an update to the rumor. False, I've been told by Town Hall.

But there's good news. The construction company informed me they are ready to put out construction signs next week. After that they start clearing (land?) then the work will begin in conjunction with utility relocation.

Can it really be?

Can you pick the winner?

2008-07-18T10:18:00.010-04:00

What will save you more money?
a. Dropping your water heater 20 degrees AND cutting 5 minutes off your shower
b. Brewing you own daily coffee instead of going for a latte at Starbucks
c. Carpooling one day a week.

An article by Lauren Baier Kim in Yahoo Finance gave me the numbers. And I am shocked. Shocked.

Being a good environmental buddy with your utilities only saves $227 a year. Less if you have a gas water heater.

Being a good carbon footprint buddy with your car saves $423 a year (with gas at $4.07 a gallon).

But saying nay to Starbucks, that purveyor of luscious sanity-saving beverages, wins with a savings of $912 a year.

Maybe this explains why Starbucks are starting to close, but we still have global warming.

BlackBerry Pilaf

2008-07-16T07:55:00.000-04:00

One of my users dropped her BlackBerry in a cup of espresso. I though espresso cups were rather small, but this one must have been a stay awake special. Anyway, the space bar stopped working so we had to order a replacement.

She might have saved the day if she knew to put her wet device in a bowl of rice to dry out. That's uncooked rice, everybody.

I understand cat litter will work too, but don't leave it where the cat will get confused.

Picture and grain-related tip courtesy of an article posted on labnol.org by Gammoth.com.

The Yankee Dollar - Oh là là

2008-07-15T08:13:00.020-04:00

We took two trips this year. Here's what we got for about US$160 a night:

In central France

in the Blueridge Mountains

Both places were clean and newly furnished. I am taking the first picture with my back against the wall. What you don't see is the bathroom with a beam slanting from ceiling to floor that you have to duck under to get to the sink.

Here's the inside of the second place:
What you don't see here is the loft bedroom with sitting room and ensuite bath, the eat-in kitchen, second bedroom and bathroom, the large front porch, side porch with eating area, and back porch with hot tub. This is a popular tourist area for people from Charlotte and Atlanta. But it was February, after all.

We were in Europe for nine days to visit family, and only met two other couples from the U.S.

The Hick You Say

2008-07-14T15:15:00.000-04:00

One of my Toronto friends said my blog has a very small town feel. I guess he means the kind of town that you can drive through without even knowing you left the town before it. Town Council is trying to fix that. Soon we'll be so homogenized you'll still be able to drive through Morrisville and not know which town you're in, but at least we won't be small anymore.

This is not a picture of where I live, but of where I work. Bambi can be mean if you get too near when her fawn is with her. This one was still learning how to walk.

The Answer

2008-07-13T09:01:00.000-04:00

Did you figure out Friday's puzzle? Here's a closeup.

It's a picture of someone using a PDA. Nadia nailed it, but I don't know about the crotch that she mentioned in her guess. It's a poor quality picture. Maybe IBM had a strict budget for this part of the software development.

The Box Number 4 Mystery

2008-07-11T08:19:00.014-04:00

I'm a Lotus Notes administrator. When you start Notes, you get this screen:

If your computer is slow enough, and as a contractor mine is, you spend a lot of time looking at this every day. Eventually you develop names for each box.

Box 1. Artsy-half-faced woman who feels blase about her email;
Box 2. Meaningless-Lotus-patented-color circles;
Box 3. IBM employees with 30 days to find another position frantically searching;
Box 4. Um . . . huh?

What is that? To me it looked like a ballet dancer stretching her leg. Some years ago I asked my co-worker who'd been with IBM for 29 years what box number 4 was. She didn't know either but thought it was someone cleaning a horse's hoof. But we both knew that wasn't the part of a horse that had anything to do with email.

We finally found someone who figured it out. The answer tomorrow.

Where's my road?

2008-07-10T08:21:00.001-04:00

UPDATE - July 16
I have heard back through the Morrisville Commissioner whom I contacted that the money rumor is not true. The Town Manager wrote: "Bond proceeds never actually get comingled (sic) with the General Fund." He said audits were also done by the lenders.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

I probably shouldn't take it so personally, but WHEN will the town start the Morrisville-Carpenter and Hwy 54 widening project? The road bond passed on election day, 2004 and that Wednesday I was on a lawn chair sipping tea in front of Ben's Bargain Barn waiting for the first concrete truck. Almost four years later, I haven't seen construction worker one.

I know, we had to coordinate with the railroad, and move Billy's Hartness' house first, but... four years? So I did some sleuthing. First, the Town didn't even sell the bond until September, 2007. Second, there's rumors that the money isn't there anymore -- that once they did some consulting work on the intersection, the rest of the $3 million went into the general fund and was subsequently spent on buying property.

Listen, if I sent my kid to the store with $3 million and let him buy a candy bar, I expect some change back.

The sleuthing will continue. I'll keep you posted. Don't go too far.

Princess Dog

2008-07-09T18:37:00.001-04:00

"You said there'd be cake."

Ok enough fooling around. Tomorrow I'll start posting deep thoughts.