Archive: Posts about Mixed Bag
April 9th, 2013, 2 Comments »
After nearly 6000 entries on this site, this is the first recipe I’ve ever posted. I learned how to make this from James. I subsequently showed it to Theo, and she kindly typed up the complete recipe.
“There-in Lies the” Rub
Ingredients
- Salt
- Mexican Herb mix (paprika, cumin, coriander)
- Bouquet (two springs fresh rosemary, four sprigs thyme, six sage leaves)
- Brown Sugar
Instructions
- Each ingredient makes up a quarter of the whole mix.
- Add one quarter salt (or a little less if you don’t like your beer can chicken too salty.)
- Add one quarter mexican herbs.
- Add one quarter bouquet herbs.
- Add one quarter brown sugar.
- Take a picture, post to Instagram, and then mix together.
The Stuffing
Ingredients
- “There-in Lies the” Rub
- Half-loaf of day-old bread
- 1 white onion
- 2 apples
- 2 big sticks of celery
- Olive oil
Instructions
- Acquire a big bowl to place all the ingredients in.
- Cut bread into cubes.
- Cut onion into cubes or chunks.
- Dice apple into cubes.
- Cut celery into big pieces.
- Add a generate amount of olive oil and mix together in your bowl.
- Add five heaping table spoons of the “There in lies the rub” Rub (or whatever is left over from your Beer Can Chicken coating. More below.)
- Let sit until it’s ready to go into the oven.
DB’s BC Chicken Glove
Ingredients
- One five pound chicken
- One tall boy beer
- Olive oil (you’ll need lots so don’t worry if it’s cheap)
- “There in lies the rub” Rub
Instructions
- Set the oven to 350 degrees.
- Empty and rinse chicken (remove any of the guts).
- Take your tall boy beer, open, remove the tab, pour one-quarter out into a glass and enjoy.
- Punch some holes around the side, high up, maybe six. This is necessary if the top gets blocked and you want to avoid a beer can chicken bomb.
- Take a cookie sheet or oven pan and cover in aluminum foil.
- One person holds the chicken by placing their hand in the orifice — just like a chicken glove.
- Generously pour olive oil over the chicken, on both sides, while the other wears the “chicken glove” and rubs it into the chicken.
- Start spooning on the rub all over.
- Let the olive oil and spices catch and drip over the pan. It will only add to the stuffing flavour later on.
- Place the tall boy in place of the glass. Mount chicken over top. If you’re lucky, the chicken’s legs will touch the surface of the pan to form a solid tripod base.
- Carefully carry the pan over to the oven–the bird may be tipsy–and put it inside.
- Add stuffing to the bottom of pan and around chicken at one hour mark (you want the stuffing to cook for about 45 minutes).
- Cook 5 pound chicken for 1.75 hours or until done. Cooking time may vary depending on the size of your chicken.
- Once ready, pull out of the oven and pierce the skin between the thigh and breast with a knife. If the juice that runs out is clear, it’s ready to eat. If it’s pink, more cooking still needs to be done.
- Take a length of aluminum foil and wrap around the standing chicken to keep the heat and moisture in for 15 minutes while it sits.
- When ready, pull the chicken off the beer can–this part is trickier than it sounds–and carve.
This meals goes nicely with beer, wine, and a beet and goat cheese salad. Appetizers should include French cheese, sausage, and artichokes dipped in mayonnaise.
2 Comments »
September 3rd, 2012, 16 Comments »
For a half decade, I’ve been toying with the idea of going back to school and getting a masters degree. I use ‘toying’ here in the way a lazy cat toys with a petrified sparrow. That is, with intermittent focus.
Why do I want to back to school?
- I really enjoyed my undergraduate degree. I liked the academic rigour, the camaraderie and the debate.
- Lots of smart people that I respect have masters degrees.
- I enjoy public speaking and teaching, and an advanced degree would help me do more of that.
- I enjoy living in other places–I write this on a plane over the Atlantic–and getting a masters degree might enable that.
I’m intrigued by the idea in the abstract, but I don’t know what I’d like to study. There’s my core competency: web marketing and communications. I suppose I’m boasting, but I suspect that I’m overqualified for that topic. Having written a book about it, and taught both undergrads and grad students myself, I’d make an intolerable student.
I don’t want an MBA. No offense to anybody who has one, but they seem highly commodified. I think a lot of people get an MBA for career advancement or to increase their pay grade, neither of which is among my motivations. Also, I’ve been the co-owner of a business for 10 years, and there’s some truth to that cliche about the school of life.
I have a notion that I’d like to study something tangentially related to my work. Something around Internet culture or using the web to do good. I can think of questions I’d like to answer, but I’m not even sure what university department they might fit in.
I Have No Idea
But that’s really all I know. I have no idea how one picks a program or how one gets into one. I assume that you can, to some degree, customize your masters program, but I don’t know how much. I don’t even know how to start looking for and evaluating programs, except with some deeply dumb Google searches.
In truth, I’ve been hoping the perfect program would magically appear in my Google calendar. It hasn’t.
So, those of you with advanced degrees, how would I go about finding one that’s the right fit for me?
16 Comments »
July 5th, 2012, 2 Comments »
Like most people, I do a lot of wondering. Perhaps unlike most people, I tend to give voice to the odd questions which occur to me. My friend termed these “Darren’s Curiosities”. I often think that I’d be a happier man if I had a research team at my disposal, just waiting to answer these quandaries. Instead, I sometimes turn to Reddit’s AskReddit and Answers sections, and sometimes they help.
My friend encouraged me to keep track of these questions. So, I started a Tumblr blog where I store them. For what use? I can’t say. It’s not something I really imagined sharing–it was just a convenient spot to store them and share with my friend. Though I do sometimes think of each of the 5592 blog posts on this site as an attempt to answer a question.
In any case, here are 11 things I’ve been wondering about lately. Maybe you know the answer to one of them?
- Which country has the easiest outline to draw?
I wondered about this after hearing a cover of Joni Mitchell’s “Case of You”, in which she claims to draw a map on the back of a “cartoon coaster”. We’re not Norway, but that sounded like no easy feat. As for the easiest country, I’m leaning toward Angola.
- In North America, parents sometimes give their newborns traditional names, but spell them unusually. Does this happen in other parts of the world as well?
If William becomes Wyliem or Caitlin gets the bonus apostrophe with Kate’Lynn, then does Sergio become Serjioh?
- When I hear a repeated clap in a song, has one or two claps been recorded, or did somebody clap through the entire song in a recording session?
I got a rambling, fascinating answer to this one on Reddit.
- Why are animated GIFs still so popular?
- Which Manhattan street is most referenced in song?
Broadway? Lexington? Fifth Avenue? This was prompted by Regina Spektor’s new single, who frequently mentions New York geography.
- Do married NHL players father more children than the average man?
- Why aren’t there more TV shows set on college campuses?
I just remembered that I asked this question back in 2005.
- Where is his bodyguard when the Prime Minister is at a hockey game?
At the first Winnipeg Jets home game, he was apparently only seated with his daughter in the crowd. Tickets were very hard to come by.
- What are recent innovations in elevator technology?
- How many private, corporate gigs does the average successful band do in a year?
By “successful”, I mean “a band whose name you’d recognize”.
- Would a cat, falling at feline terminal velocity from a 30th floor balcony, kill a human if it landed on one?
2 Comments »
April 8th, 2012, 6 Comments »
For the past decade, I’ve been able to walk to my work. 10 years ago, that commute was a half-an-hour jaunt across the centre of Dublin. Since 2007, we’ve worked from home, and so my walk to work has been measured in seconds.
When I can walk to work, I find that most of my other needs fall within walking distance, too. Whether we’re living in Victoria, Malta or Victoria, BC, groceries, restaurants, medical services and the like have just been a stroll away. When we can, we plan our living circumstances around this proximity, and I’m the happier for it.
As I think about it, walking reminds me that I’m living my life at a healthy, sustainable pace. I don’t have to hop into a car to beat the traffic so that I can make it to the office on time, or get to a store before it closes.
I appreciate that this kind of lifestyle isn’t for everyone. Your average North American family lives in the suburbs, and so they can’t walk to school, work or the rest of their lives away from home. They routinely need cars to get where they’re going. My choice to walk is the privilege of a childless, middle-class knowledge worker. Of course, in many small towns around the world, walking is still the way of life for much of humanity.
Here in France, I walk every day. Usually it’s down to the local shops–the grocery store, la pâtisserie and la boucherie. I also walk up and down the Canal du Midi a lot. It’s very pleasant to follow the meandering path of the slow-moving canal, shaded by plane trees.
I recently learned about the Camino de Santiago, a Catholic pilgrimage in northern Spain, and one of many such pilgrimages throughout Europe. While I’m not Catholic, I do see the appeal in a moving ritual that lasts a month and leaves you alone with your thoughts and surroundings.
6 Comments »
December 4th, 2011, 7 Comments »
When I was in theatre school, I regularly participated in the ‘collective creation’ process. This involved collaborating with my fellow students to create a short play or scene. There were no directors or playwrights. Everybody contributed to the project, and we reached a consensus on what work to keep and what to throw out. The process was slow-moving, feelings regularly got hurt and the results were unilaterally awful.
The rise of the Occupy movement this fall reminded me of working on collective creations. Occupy Wall Street and its cousins around the world actively eschewed leaders, and relied on a community-oriented consensus model to reach decisions. This ostensibly leaderless approach got me naturally thinking about leadership.
In every project in which I’ve been involved–creative, corporate, volunteer, non-profit–there was always a person in charge. Whether or not that person had an authoritative title or anybody acknowledged it, they had final decision-making power. A group always needs to look to somebody to own big decisions. That’s what a leader is there for.
Whether we’re talking about theatre, an unconference or revolution, there’s always a leader at the heart of things. Like it or not, we’re a hierarchical species. It’s how we get stuff done.
Which is why I’ve been interested in the intentional leaderlessness of the Occupy movement. There’s a cliche about Generation Y that they were raised on teamwork and consensus building, where everybody got a ribbon on Sports Day and nobody counted goals at their soccer games. Does Occupy reflect these values? Or is it merely a coincidence? I suspect that, in truth, each Occupy protest had their fair share of leaders who, at the end of the day, drove and owned decisions.
Here’s another thing about leadership that I’ve learned over the years: most people don’t want to be leaders.
In rereading this little post, it seems like I’m rather aggressively reinforcing the status quo. A feminist reading of this post might accuse me of taking a very traditional, masculine line of thinking. I should emphasize that I’m not writing off other ways of organization, but I can think of very few truly leaderless projects. Can you think of examples?
UPDATE: A friend sent me this interesting article by Micah L. Sifry. It frames Occupy Wall Street as a ‘leader-full movement’. I’d need to read more about this idea to get my head around it. It’s a pity that, in the conclusion, Sifry demonizes traditional leadership by writing “a world of top-down leaders who use hierarchy, secrecy and spin to conduct their business”. He hasn’t earned that claim with evidence elsewhere in the article, and so it cheapens an otherwise thoughtful piece.
7 Comments »
December 2nd, 2011, 9 Comments »
A little over nine years ago, I started creating a list of 100 things to do before I die. I wrote up the initial 20. They look like this:
- Live in a house built to my specifications
- Play ice hockey (beer league will do)
- Live in a third-world country
- Completely research my family history
- Be interviewed on the CBC
- Own a dog
- Own another cat
- Own a hybrid or electric car
- Live by the ocean
- Drive across Canada
- Visit Patagonia
- Visit Vietnam
- See a play of mine produced
- Read 100 more of the books on Harold Bloom’s Western Canon.
- Work as a film critic
- Read Ulysses by James Joyce
- Build or skate in an ice rink in the Republic of Ireland
- Change careers
- Hike the Cabot trail
- Become passably fluent in French
I’ve recently been clearing out some storage boxes, random electronics (thank you, Free Geek Vancouver) and books. In an old notebook, I found these handwritten additions to my original 20 items:
- Visit Israel
- Visit Egypt
- Visit South Africa
- Plant a vegetable garden
- Kayak somewhere for at least a week
- Bike somewhere for at least a week
- Open my own business
- Not work for a year
- Get a Master’s degree
- Volunteer abroad for a time
- Work with animals
- Publish a book
Whew, that’s a measly 32 items. It’s actually pretty tricky to think of 100 things I want to do before I die. What does that say about me? Charitably, I’m a realist. Cruelly, I’ve got a pathetic lack of imagination. I’ve put my mind to it, though, and here are 18 more things. I reserve the right to include a couple that were definitely lifelong aspirations that I’ve achieved in the past few years:
- Publish a novel
- See the wildebeest migration at Ngorongoro Crater
- See my great uncle Ross’s grave in Kiel, Germany
- Walk Juno Beach on the anniversary of D-Day
- Become a patron of the arts (whatever that means)
- Catch a fish
- Catch a fish using a speargun
- Take a multi-day train trip
- Run 5 km without puking
- See the aurora borealis
- Learn how to competently play jazz guitar, in the django style
- Visit all of Canada’s provinces and territories
- See the Sahara desert
- Visit New Zealand
- Visit Seychelles
- Volunteer on an archeaological dig
- Take some singing lessons
- Spend 40 days totally alone, without any modern technology
Whew. Halfway there. And now, the complete list, with the ones I’ve actually completed. I’d better pick up the pace:
- Live in a house built to my specifications
- Play ice hockey (beer league will do)
Live in a third-world country
- Completely research my family history
Be interviewed on the CBC
- Own a dog
- Own another cat
Own a hybrid or electric car
- Live by the ocean
- Drive across Canada
- Visit Patagonia
- Visit Vietnam
See a play of mine produced
- Read 100 more of the books on Harold Bloom’s Western Canon
- Work as a film critic
- Read Ulysses by James Joyce
Build or skate in an ice rink in the Republic of Ireland
Change careers
- Hike the Cabot trail
- Become passably fluent in French
- Visit Israel
- Visit Egypt
Visit South Africa
Plant a vegetable garden
- Kayak somewhere for at least a week
- Bike somewhere for at least a week
Open my own business
- Not work for a year
- Get a Master’s degree
- Volunteer abroad for a time
- Work with animals
Publish a book
- Publish a novel
- See the wildebeest migration at Ngorongoro Crater
See my great uncle Ross’s grave in Kiel, Germany
Walk Juno Beach on the anniversary of D-Day
Become a patron of the arts
Catch a fish
- Catch a fish using a speargun
- Take a multi-day train trip
Run 5 km without puking
- See the aurora borealis
- Learn how to competently play jazz guitar, in the django style
- Visit all of Canada’s provinces and territories
See the Sahara desert
- Visit New Zealand
- Visit Seychelles
- Volunteer on an archaeological dig
- Take some singing lessons
- Spend 40 days totally alone, without any modern technology
I’m open to suggestions. What would you add to my list?
9 Comments »
September 19th, 2011, 4 Comments »
Julie is a bridesmaid at an upcoming wedding, and organized a stagette. They didn’t play many games, but they did play the one where you ask the bridge questions about the groom. In the case of this stagette, if the bride’s answer doesn’t match the groom’s, she had to take a drink.
Julie did a little research to see what kinds of questions were available online, and she was disappointed by the results. So she devised her own list. I thought I’d post it here for posterity:
The questions game
Here are 20 questions for the groom.
- What was the name of your first pet?
- What’s your favourite band?
- What’s your all-time favourite meal?
- What’s your guilty pleasure?
- What’s the best meal that the bride makes for you?
- Who’s your movie star crush?
- What would you say is the bride’s guilty pleasure?
- What’s your biggest pet peeve?
- What city would you most like to visit?
- What is your least favourite chore?
- Where was your first kiss?
- If you and the bride have a song, what is it?
- Who’s your favourite hockey player?
- What super power would you choose?
- How many countries have you visited?
- What’s your favourite movie?
- If the bride could throw away one thing from your wardrobe, what would it be?
- Where did you go on your first date?
- What is the bride’s favourite book?
- What’s the best trip you’ve ever taken together?
4 Comments »
August 25th, 2011, 7 Comments »
I’m not a productivity zealot. I have read Getting Things Done. I picked up a couple of habits from it, but I didn’t really deploy the whole GTD ethos.
I was recently thinking about the strategy and shortcuts I employ to make my life and work more efficient. I try a lot of different tools, tactics and tips, but these are ten that have stuck. If you’re a productivity fiend, you probably know all of these (except maybe #10).
- Make approval requests opt-out, not opt-in. When I require somebody’s input or approval over email, I always include a sentence like this: “If I don’t receive your feedback by end of day on August 28, I’ll assume you’ve approved this document as is.” This old trick from technical writing rarely fails to deliver the result you want.
- Train your colleagues that if they need something urgently from you, they should call you. Maybe it’s because I work in the technology industry with a lot of email-obsessed introverts, but people seem to expect a response to an email within a half-hour of their sending it. I prefer to maintain a healthily asynchronous outlook on email.
- Get the instant messenger gospel. I’m amazed by the number of workplaces where everybody sits in front of a computer all day that do not use an IM system. It’s also an excellent solution for distributed teams, remote working and people who hate the phone.
- Process every email as soon as you read it. If you can respond and archive it in less than two minutes, do so. Otherwise, I assign myself a task in my task management tool, associate the message’s URL (I use Gmail for my sundry email accounts) with the task and archive it. The email is no longer occupying space in my inbox, but I’ve got a reliable way to find it when I’m going to work on the associated task.
- If a task is too daunting, reduce it to smaller tasks. Are those smaller tasks too big? Sub-divide them again. Work gets done bird by bird.
- If you’re somebody who likes notebooks and paper lists, consider implementing Kanban as a real-world, sticky-note-powered project management system.
- When I want to change a habit–eating, exercising, spending–I measure it obsessively. To apply a liberal arts interpretation of the Heisenberg uncertainty principle, looking at something changes it. It’s rewarding to track the number of kilometres I walk, ride and run each month. Knowing how the number of calories in a slice of bread encourages me to mix up my daily sandwich for lunch. Related tip courtesy of James: wraps work like sandwiches, but with fewer calories.
- I find it quite useful to have my calendar emailed to me every morning (that’s another tip from James). I am less likely to forget about calls or meetings until my calendar displays a pop-up reminder ten minutes before the event.
- Deploy rigorous email filters. Lately I’ve been loving the Bulk feature in Gmail, which filters all my bacn out of my inbox. If an email is sent to more than you and a couple of colleagues, you probably don’t want to read it as soon as you receive it.
- Floss in the shower. Seriously. You know that 30 seconds or a minute at the end of the shower when you’re just standing there, reluctant to get out into the cold bathroom? Take that time and floss.
7 Comments »
