I guess it’s not really a review, but more a celebration. I have broadband!
I got it through Teton Wireless, and I have to say, I’m quite impressed so far. I had some pretty specific installation requirements, and the tech worked hard to make me happy. He even redid the ends on some of the cables a friend and I ran for my DirecTV installation and made sure I could use both my DirecTV and their basic cable on my living room TV. I was hoping to keep both at my computer, but the technology won’t allow for that, or so I’m told.
In any case, after part of one day, my conclusion is: Teton Wireless: good; broadband: great! Hopefully that opinion holds!
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
Friday, October 08, 2004
Cory's Spot: Weekly Columns: Reviews, Politics, and LDS Culture
It’s been quite the long time since I last posted here. Considering that it’s my blog, that’s probably not such a good thing.
For the moment, I’d simply like to direct my readers’ (or is that reader’s?) attention to a few columns I make point to check out every week. All are accessible from www.hatrack.com, which is author Orson Scott Card’s website. The first two are by him and the latest of each is accessible from the left sidebar, and the third is simply linked to from his site, at the bottom of the "other sites published by Orson Scott Card" section.
"Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" is as close as anything to the direct inspiration for my own blog. Every week, Card writes on a variety of different topics, giving his own opinion on each. The most common topics are movies and books, though restaurants, socks (yes, the kind one wears on one’s feet), and all kinds of other things have come up.
"World Watch" is akin to the blogs from my friends Nick Speth and Tara Rowe. Card discusses political happenings of the week and lends his two cents. A self-proclaimed moderate Democrat who strongly supports Bush as opposed to Kerry, most due to their stances on the war on terrorism and on the way each is likely to follow through on our current involvement, Card often hits the nail squarely on the head, IMHO.
Finally, "The Back Bench" is written by Aaron Johnston. Johnston is LDS and his column is written from that perspective for an LDS audience. As a member of the target audience, I often find myself amused by his approach to various topics – he’s not so overly pious that he can’t joke around a bit, yet he never lets it get out of hand.
I can’t promise that I’ll suddenly reform myself and write as regularly as I’d like to, but I’ll definitely be making the effort to keep the time between posts significantly shorter than it has been this time. Should another unannounced and unearned sabbatical come upon me, check out Card and Johnston’s columns and rest easy, knowing that there’s better stuff out there anyway.
By the way, I was informed this morning that my fellow blogger, Tara Rowe has decided to mention me in her latest blog. Sorry, Tara, that this isn’t about Morgan Freeman, but that one may still come.
For the moment, I’d simply like to direct my readers’ (or is that reader’s?) attention to a few columns I make point to check out every week. All are accessible from www.hatrack.com, which is author Orson Scott Card’s website. The first two are by him and the latest of each is accessible from the left sidebar, and the third is simply linked to from his site, at the bottom of the "other sites published by Orson Scott Card" section.
"Uncle Orson Reviews Everything" is as close as anything to the direct inspiration for my own blog. Every week, Card writes on a variety of different topics, giving his own opinion on each. The most common topics are movies and books, though restaurants, socks (yes, the kind one wears on one’s feet), and all kinds of other things have come up.
"World Watch" is akin to the blogs from my friends Nick Speth and Tara Rowe. Card discusses political happenings of the week and lends his two cents. A self-proclaimed moderate Democrat who strongly supports Bush as opposed to Kerry, most due to their stances on the war on terrorism and on the way each is likely to follow through on our current involvement, Card often hits the nail squarely on the head, IMHO.
Finally, "The Back Bench" is written by Aaron Johnston. Johnston is LDS and his column is written from that perspective for an LDS audience. As a member of the target audience, I often find myself amused by his approach to various topics – he’s not so overly pious that he can’t joke around a bit, yet he never lets it get out of hand.
I can’t promise that I’ll suddenly reform myself and write as regularly as I’d like to, but I’ll definitely be making the effort to keep the time between posts significantly shorter than it has been this time. Should another unannounced and unearned sabbatical come upon me, check out Card and Johnston’s columns and rest easy, knowing that there’s better stuff out there anyway.
By the way, I was informed this morning that my fellow blogger, Tara Rowe has decided to mention me in her latest blog. Sorry, Tara, that this isn’t about Morgan Freeman, but that one may still come.
Thursday, September 09, 2004
Cory's Spot: Concert: Dave Matthews Band at USANA Amphitheatre
Thanks to a very generous friend, I had the opportunity to attend the Dave Matthews Band's concert last night at the USANA Amphitheatre in West Valley City, UT, which is essentially all kinds of south and west in Salt Lake City. Between still being quite tired and not really having a lot of time this morning, I'll simply say for now that the amphitheatre was nice, the band was awesome, and the audience left much to be desired with their enthousiasm. In their defense, the band played several newer songs that people didn't know and couldn't sing along to and a couple of long, drawn-out jams, but I was still disappointed.
More later, though.
By the way, this isn't actually from this show, but it's from somewhat the same angle we saw the show from and gives an idea of stage/lighting setup.
Thanks to DMB Road Crew for the photo.
More later, though.
By the way, this isn't actually from this show, but it's from somewhat the same angle we saw the show from and gives an idea of stage/lighting setup.
Thanks to DMB Road Crew for the photo.
Monday, August 30, 2004
Cory's Spot: Excuses and Dragons
Between school, work, and reading for pleasure, I’m afraid I’ve been falling far behind on my blog. Not that I’ve got a backlog of things I’ve meant to blog about, but more that I simply haven’t been taking the time to develop whatever ideas might have crossed my mind into posts.
I don’t know how many of my readers are into reading sci-fi/fantasy, but this summer I’ve rediscovered a series I hadn’t read at all in years, and I’ve been trying to get all the books read before school started (a week ago today). That didn’t happen, and I still have a few books from the series I haven’t been able to get my hands on, but I’m almost done with what I could find, which I consider to be a good thing, since I’m now almost 200 pages behind in Dickens’ Bleak House for my ENGL 110 class.
In any case, the series I’m reading is Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. The idea behind the book is that 2,500 years ago, humans, wanting to escape the war, greed, etc. of a human civilization already far in our future, settled on a backwater planned name Pern where they could continue and their own pace and be left alone. Everything was good for a while, but then deadly organisms, called thread, began falling from the sky, draining their resources much faster than anticipated and causing much of the technology they’d brought with them to decay quickly enough that it became obvious they weren’t going to be able to rely on technology as long as they’d intended and that they weren’t even going to be able to survive thread unless they came up with something else to combat it. So they did what any advance civilation with a bioengineering facility might do: made the cute little fire-breathing lizards they'd found on Pern when they arrived big enough to ride on and fight thread with, thus introducing dragons. These dragons and their riders became key figures in Pernese civilization and, along with other changes from the high-tech culture the settlers had landed with, a new civilization came to be.
I know these book won’t be for everybody, but if it sounds interesting at all, I’d recommend you give it a try. McCaffrey’s characters and society are quite believable, so there are people to recognize and a storyline to believe, even if the basic precepts of the story are quite fantastic. As the first three Pern books written by McCaffrey (starting back in the late ‘60s), I’d recommend starting with Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon.
I’m still a bit behind with all I ought to be doing, but I’ll be posting again before too long.
I don’t know how many of my readers are into reading sci-fi/fantasy, but this summer I’ve rediscovered a series I hadn’t read at all in years, and I’ve been trying to get all the books read before school started (a week ago today). That didn’t happen, and I still have a few books from the series I haven’t been able to get my hands on, but I’m almost done with what I could find, which I consider to be a good thing, since I’m now almost 200 pages behind in Dickens’ Bleak House for my ENGL 110 class.
In any case, the series I’m reading is Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series. The idea behind the book is that 2,500 years ago, humans, wanting to escape the war, greed, etc. of a human civilization already far in our future, settled on a backwater planned name Pern where they could continue and their own pace and be left alone. Everything was good for a while, but then deadly organisms, called thread, began falling from the sky, draining their resources much faster than anticipated and causing much of the technology they’d brought with them to decay quickly enough that it became obvious they weren’t going to be able to rely on technology as long as they’d intended and that they weren’t even going to be able to survive thread unless they came up with something else to combat it. So they did what any advance civilation with a bioengineering facility might do: made the cute little fire-breathing lizards they'd found on Pern when they arrived big enough to ride on and fight thread with, thus introducing dragons. These dragons and their riders became key figures in Pernese civilization and, along with other changes from the high-tech culture the settlers had landed with, a new civilization came to be.
I know these book won’t be for everybody, but if it sounds interesting at all, I’d recommend you give it a try. McCaffrey’s characters and society are quite believable, so there are people to recognize and a storyline to believe, even if the basic precepts of the story are quite fantastic. As the first three Pern books written by McCaffrey (starting back in the late ‘60s), I’d recommend starting with Dragonflight, Dragonquest, and The White Dragon.
I’m still a bit behind with all I ought to be doing, but I’ll be posting again before too long.
Friday, August 13, 2004
Cory's Spot: Livestrong Wristbands
As I’m sure many have also noticed, the little yellow livestrong wristbands are becoming more and more prominent, being frequently seen on the arms of many famous personalities, entertainers and politicians alike. Closer to home, my sister’s been sporting one for a while now, and last night my wife ordered a ten pack direct from the LAF (Lance Armstrong Foundation) store.
The problem is this: strongly agreeing with Tara Rowe’s commentary regarding the inappropriateness of the magnetic yellow ribbons seen on vehicles around town, I’m struggling to decide whether I want to wear one of the wristbands.
Yes, the monies raised by the sale of these wristbands support cancer research. Yes, being directly sold by the foundation, there’s a decent chance that the money will actually get to researchers.
I simply have to wonder how it’s worthwhile to spend $10 plus handling & delivery on 10 wristbands instead of donating the money directly to a research organization/charity of choice. I'm also admittedly put off by the fact that Lance Armstrong himself is an admitted adulterer. True, a person can change, can repent, and can and should be fully forgiven, but should that person also still be held up as a hero?
The wristbands are backordered, so it’ll likely be quite a while before I have to make a definite decision, but any input would be appreciated, either in the form of additional information on the topic or as a direct expression of your personal feelings on the matter.
The problem is this: strongly agreeing with Tara Rowe’s commentary regarding the inappropriateness of the magnetic yellow ribbons seen on vehicles around town, I’m struggling to decide whether I want to wear one of the wristbands.
Yes, the monies raised by the sale of these wristbands support cancer research. Yes, being directly sold by the foundation, there’s a decent chance that the money will actually get to researchers.
I simply have to wonder how it’s worthwhile to spend $10 plus handling & delivery on 10 wristbands instead of donating the money directly to a research organization/charity of choice. I'm also admittedly put off by the fact that Lance Armstrong himself is an admitted adulterer. True, a person can change, can repent, and can and should be fully forgiven, but should that person also still be held up as a hero?
The wristbands are backordered, so it’ll likely be quite a while before I have to make a definite decision, but any input would be appreciated, either in the form of additional information on the topic or as a direct expression of your personal feelings on the matter.
Thursday, August 12, 2004
Cory's Spot: Nothing New Today
Before starting my blog, I worried about the whole publication deadline. Of course, there’s no literal deadline, since each blogger is free to publish on whatever schedule, or non-schedule, they feel the desire to adhere to, or not adhere to. Nonetheless, I feel that in order to actually develop a readership and have people bother to check for new posts on a semi-regular basis, I need to be at least semi-regular in my posting. The problem is, I don’t always have something worth writing about, short of picking some random annoyance and raving about that for a while (believe me, I could probably pull the whole random rant off, since I’m often peeved at one thing or another, but it’d probably get old fast for you, Gentle Reader) and I think it’d take the fun out of it to force a post every day or so. For example, writing today about my wonderful tuna fish sandwich on fresh honey wheat bread would be a bit much, don’t you think?
In any case, I don’t really have much to say today. I do think I ought to give fair warning that I made a trip to the library today and came home with a couple more books than I’d planned on, a couple of which have to be back in two weeks, not to mention the impending start of the fall semester. Still, should I feel the need to spew forth line upon line of mostly grammatically correct English for public consumption, you’ll find it here.
By the way, I hate road construction, but that’s a post for another day...or not at all...but in any case, not today.
In any case, I don’t really have much to say today. I do think I ought to give fair warning that I made a trip to the library today and came home with a couple more books than I’d planned on, a couple of which have to be back in two weeks, not to mention the impending start of the fall semester. Still, should I feel the need to spew forth line upon line of mostly grammatically correct English for public consumption, you’ll find it here.
By the way, I hate road construction, but that’s a post for another day...or not at all...but in any case, not today.
Wednesday, August 11, 2004
Cory's Spot: Recipe: Garlic Lime Shrimp
Over time, I'm sure a certain degree of predictability will creep into my posts, but for now, I'm guessing this particular post will come as a surprise to almost all of my readers. You see, today my wife and I enjoyed a delicious seafood and pasta meal for lunch that we had thrown together ourselves in a matter of minutes, and I'm going to tell you all about it. I wish I had the money to be regularly visiting fancy restaurants and posting reviews, but most meals that get a mention here will be either of the fast food or of the home grown varieties. And, yes, I may just be blogging about fast food.
In any case, this particular meal is officially called "Garlic Lime Shrimp." I say officially since that's the name given it by the magazine I originally found the recipe in. The first time we made it, we had to go shopping beforehand, since we didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand. On the up side, the tiny bottle of cayenne pepper we bought will probably last us for years, so I guess you could call it a worthwhile investment.
Without further ado, the recipe, as I originally found it:
Being well removed from any sort of seashore where one could reasonably come by really fresh, good shrimp, we settled for frozen shrimp from Wally-World. It's a little more expensive to buy it pre-peeled and deveined, but it's worth it. As for the garlic, you could of course use garlic powder or such, but it's worth spending a bit up front for a garlic press and then buying fresh garlic – I'm not a huge garlic fan, but when I use it, the taste is much better from the fresh stuff. Ditto for the parsley. I have to admit that we've only ever used the little squeezable limes instead of the real thing, but I'm sure the same would be true there. The major change we've made it getting rid of the butter and using some olive oil instead. I like the taste better, and I believe the health gurus would argue for benefits in their field as well. I suspect I use far less than ½ cup of olive oil, but I've never really measured. One downside to using just enough oil to sauté the shrimp, garlic, etc. is that it ends up being a bit dry on the pasta – that's easy enough to overcome by adding a bit more lime juice, which makes for a better flavor anyway.
I always forget to start the pasta before the shrimp, so I end up having to simmer the shrimp for a bit while waiting for the pasta to be done, but a little advance preparation would easily enough avoid that particular delay.
Depending upon how much cayenne you've used, you'll probably find yourself wanting something cool and crisp to complement the pasta dish. Again, working with a poor college couple's budget and time constraints and not really knowing any better, we usually go for the pre-mixed, bagged variety with something other than just plain iceberg lettuce instead of buying different varieties of lettuce super fresh or growing them ourselves. Crisp it up beforehand in water, then keep it from staying too wet in the fridge and it can actually be quite tasty. The secret ingredient for this particular salad is the dressing: Briannas Homestyle Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing. It's a sweet dressing and I prefer to add fruits to garnish my salad when I use this dressing instead of croutons and such, but to each his own.
Well, I'm even surprised that I've gone on this long about pasta and salad, but it's my ability to ramble when I put my mind to it that originally got me thinking about starting a blog, so it makes sense.
Try it and enjoy…and let me know what you think!
In any case, this particular meal is officially called "Garlic Lime Shrimp." I say officially since that's the name given it by the magazine I originally found the recipe in. The first time we made it, we had to go shopping beforehand, since we didn't have a lot of the ingredients on hand. On the up side, the tiny bottle of cayenne pepper we bought will probably last us for years, so I guess you could call it a worthwhile investment.
Without further ado, the recipe, as I originally found it:
Garlic Lime Shrimp1 lb uncooked large shrimp (peeled & deveined)
5 garlic cloves, minced
½ t. salt
¼-½ t. cayenne pepper
½ c. butter
3 T. lime juice
1 T. minced fresh parsley
hot cooked pasta
In a large skillet, saut̩ the shrimp, garlic, salt, and cayenne in butter until shrimp turn pink Рabout 5 min. Stir in lime juice and parsley. Serve over pasta.Makes four servings.
Being well removed from any sort of seashore where one could reasonably come by really fresh, good shrimp, we settled for frozen shrimp from Wally-World. It's a little more expensive to buy it pre-peeled and deveined, but it's worth it. As for the garlic, you could of course use garlic powder or such, but it's worth spending a bit up front for a garlic press and then buying fresh garlic – I'm not a huge garlic fan, but when I use it, the taste is much better from the fresh stuff. Ditto for the parsley. I have to admit that we've only ever used the little squeezable limes instead of the real thing, but I'm sure the same would be true there. The major change we've made it getting rid of the butter and using some olive oil instead. I like the taste better, and I believe the health gurus would argue for benefits in their field as well. I suspect I use far less than ½ cup of olive oil, but I've never really measured. One downside to using just enough oil to sauté the shrimp, garlic, etc. is that it ends up being a bit dry on the pasta – that's easy enough to overcome by adding a bit more lime juice, which makes for a better flavor anyway.
I always forget to start the pasta before the shrimp, so I end up having to simmer the shrimp for a bit while waiting for the pasta to be done, but a little advance preparation would easily enough avoid that particular delay.
Depending upon how much cayenne you've used, you'll probably find yourself wanting something cool and crisp to complement the pasta dish. Again, working with a poor college couple's budget and time constraints and not really knowing any better, we usually go for the pre-mixed, bagged variety with something other than just plain iceberg lettuce instead of buying different varieties of lettuce super fresh or growing them ourselves. Crisp it up beforehand in water, then keep it from staying too wet in the fridge and it can actually be quite tasty. The secret ingredient for this particular salad is the dressing: Briannas Homestyle Blush Wine Vinaigrette Dressing. It's a sweet dressing and I prefer to add fruits to garnish my salad when I use this dressing instead of croutons and such, but to each his own.
Well, I'm even surprised that I've gone on this long about pasta and salad, but it's my ability to ramble when I put my mind to it that originally got me thinking about starting a blog, so it makes sense.
Try it and enjoy…and let me know what you think!
Tuesday, August 10, 2004
Cory's Spot: Disclaimer
No one else I know bothers to put a disclaimer on their blog, but I’m going to do so anyway. You see, although it ought to be patently obvious to anybody, myself included, that there’s really nothing wrong with expressing an opinion, especially when it’s well informed and well formulated, I’m worried that somebody will take offense or will strongly disagree and will let me know and I won’t be able to respond properly. I’m afraid of coming off as stupid, which I might as well admit now is pretty much the cardinal sin in my book. I guess it’s just an irrational fear of being wrong, which I have to admit has paralyzed me on more than one occasion and is far more stupid than the actual thought I’ve been afraid to express or the action I’ve been afraid to take.
Now, having gotten that off my chest, I’m going to attempt to open up and express myself freely in the entries to come. I truly hope that most will be well written, with all that implies, but I know that not all will be and I accept that. If you’ve made it through my disclaimer, congratulations! Come on back – I hope to fairly regularly have something for you to read, and occasionally something for you to ponder. Should you wish to express either agreement or (gulp!) disagreement, please feel free to comment!
Oh, and one more disclaimer: though I’m preceded in publication by Nick’s Daily News, The Political Game, and GolgOpia, I need all to understand that I’m not merely imitating my friends in this undertaking, but have rather been spurred on to action by their examples. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting my own blog for quite some time now, and I’m finally setting my fears aside and taking a flying leap at it. It's a minor distinction to some, but important to me.
Now, having gotten that off my chest, I’m going to attempt to open up and express myself freely in the entries to come. I truly hope that most will be well written, with all that implies, but I know that not all will be and I accept that. If you’ve made it through my disclaimer, congratulations! Come on back – I hope to fairly regularly have something for you to read, and occasionally something for you to ponder. Should you wish to express either agreement or (gulp!) disagreement, please feel free to comment!
Oh, and one more disclaimer: though I’m preceded in publication by Nick’s Daily News, The Political Game, and GolgOpia, I need all to understand that I’m not merely imitating my friends in this undertaking, but have rather been spurred on to action by their examples. I’ve been toying with the idea of starting my own blog for quite some time now, and I’m finally setting my fears aside and taking a flying leap at it. It's a minor distinction to some, but important to me.
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