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Life

Yes Mom, your son can cook…

Cooking. A chore if you will. Usually takes too much time, comes out wrong, and makes a mess of the kitchen. I usually don’t cook and if I do it is something simple. Last week Emily made us Lasagna (which was very good), so I thought I’d return the favor and make Salmon.

I’ve never cooked it before, so it was something new. Also, I have zero spices (why have them? for pizza?) so I ran to the store to pick them all up. After all that, I started on it. Mixing the spices and such, and then cooking it. It turned out OK I guess, I really don’t eat salmon that much, but we ate it and it didn’t kill us, so that’s a good first sign.

In a way, cooking is like programming. Take the requirements (the recipe) and then take some constructs (ingredients), put them together in a logical way, following some set of standards, and then test the output (eat! :))

Spiced Maple Glazed Salmon

Serves 2

1 teaspoon paprika
1 teaspoon chili powder
1/4 teaspoon ground cumin
1/4 teaspoon garlic powder
1/2 teaspoon brown sugar
1/2 teaspoon sea salt
2 (6 ounce) salmon fillets
1/2 tablespoon maple syrup
1/2 tablespoon melted butter
1/2 tablespoon chopped green onions

Step 0 – Crack open a Coors Light – use throughout all steps

Step 1 – Make sure the salmon is defrosted – so if you buy frozen fillets, let them sit out for a day, or buy fresh fillets

Step 2 – Preheat oven to 375 degrees

Step 3 – Create the spice mix. Paprika, chili powder, cumin, garlic powder and brown sugar

Step 4 – Put salmon on a baking dish

Step 5 – Sprinkle salmon with sea salt, then rub with spice mixture from step 3

Step 6 – Combine melted butter and maple syrup, and drizzle on the fillets, and sprinkle green onions on top

Step 7 – Bake for 10-12 minutes (15 at most)

Step 8 – Server with Salad, vegetable, rice, or something similar.

Step 9 – Open Wine, enjoy πŸ™‚

P1000353 - Copy

If anyone is ambitious, try out the recipe and let me know how it tastes. Now if Microsoft would only make Namespaces in .NET called System.IO.Eating and System. Cooking I’d be set πŸ™‚

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Life

Washington Park, Portland OR

Took a walk through Washington Park today and took some snaps.

Washington Park 020

http://flickr.com/photos/scaleovenstove/sets/72157600454435349/

 There is the International Rose Test Garden, and the Japanese Rose Garden (I didn’t go into it, 8 bucks??). Nice day for a walk, a lot of people out there though…

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Life

New Video on YouTube – 311 Cover – I'll Be Here Awhile

Since everyone thinks I won’t be in Portland long, I figured I would respond the way they would on the Simpson’s, in song.

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Life Product Reviews

Starbucks – 2nd Office, and Barfly Mag

I have really never been to a Starbucks before, aka “I hate coffee”. Well, there are tons of them around my apt, and since I have T-Mobile hotspot on my phone plan, I might as well use it. Today I ventured out to a nearby Starbucks, laptop in hand.

Since I don’t really like coffee, I decided to try their new Orange Creme Frappuccino. Whoa, good. But $4.05! It was pretty empty when I got here, and I had some issues getting on the Internet. Not sure, I had them reboot the router, and it worked. Pretty nice, air conditioning, music in the background, people sitting around, and I can get work done at the same time. There are power outlets scattered around (not enough in my opinion), and since it was empty when I came, I got a table close to an electrical outlet.

Since moving to Portland, I am contracting, so I have been working out of my apt, so now, I have a ton of “2nd offices” two or three within a few blocks of my apt, depending if I want to walk East of West. Next, to find some good local shops with reliable Wi-Fi as well.

And for the after work Internet fix – bars with Wi-Fi. There is this awesome site, Barfly Magazine, that lets you search on location and amenities at pubs around PDX, and here is the search for Wi-Fi. If you want air-conditioning, etc, you can filter it all out there, pretty sweet.

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Geeky/Programming Life

T-Mobile Hotspot Access with Total Internet Add-On

A few months back when I got my T-Mobile Dash, it comes with the “T-Mobile Total Internet Add-on” which says “T-Mobile Internet with Hotspot”.

Ok, cool. Access to their hotspots at Starbucks, Hotels, Airports, etc, right? Well fine, but what is my username/password for the site? (hotspot.t-mobile.com)

Tried my phone #, and T-mobile password, nothing, just couldn’t figure it out. Finally stumbled across it on howardforums wiki – 10 digit phone number and last four of SSN, and on login it asks you to change.

So now, cool, I have access to the hotspots, This week it looks like I am going to have to try to get out of the “office” and work from a Starbucks for an afternoon, just to get some human interaction πŸ™‚

 

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Life

Jamming – Craigslist and Audio Cinema

As I mentioned in a previous post, I met up with some guys that I met through Craigslist on the musicians forums, and we jammed on Wednesday night.

We met up at Audio Cinema, in the an area full of warehouses on the SE side of Portland. At first I couldn’t find the place, it was like under a bridge and just like in a weird street, but finally found it.

We rented a jam room for 2 hours (15 and hour) which came with a PA already set up.

I brought my acoustic guitar and a mic, and there was 3 other guys, a electric guitar, a bass, and drums. We jammed out pretty good, played a couple covers to just get warmed up, then we just started playing different chord changes to see what we could come up with.

It was very laid back, no pressure, and a fun time. The other guys have wives and kids, so it isn’t like we will be rock stars or anything. We plan on getting together again in a week/2 weeks. Should be fun.

Oh yeah, hit up the Kingston which is like 3 blocks from my apt for some beer and nachos (don’t even get me started on nachos, its like the 20th time I have had them in 2 weeks!)

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Life

Mount Hood, Oregon – Afternoon Trip

Mt. Hood 06-14-2007 002

Yesterday me and Emily went for a drive after work out to Mount Hood, Oregon just to see the sights. I always hear “Mount Hood this, and Mount Hood that” from everyone around here because you can see it from the city, but up until yesterday I could never see it because it wasn’t a totally clear day. Well I finally saw it driving around so that was cool, but then we took off to get up close.

On the way out, the elevation is posted on the road. 1000 ft, then like 2 miles later, 1500, then 2000, 3000, up, up. Pretty crazy. Once we got to the bottom of the summit, there is a hotel/lodge/museum/bar-restaurant thingy, so we went there, man, walking around in the parking lot I kind of felt dizzy. Not sure if it was the thin air, or just some crazy sense of vertigo.

Then we cruised to Hood River, OR, which on the way we stopped to take some pics of the Hood River. Stopped at some Brew Pub (so many of them here – I think my IPA was 8.0% booze!) which was good, and split in pool (next time, no mercy!!)

Pictures Here:

http://www.flickr.com/photos/scaleovenstove/sets/72157600364857049/

Small vid of the river here:

 

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Life

Open Mic Night – Cheerful Pit Stop

Last night, we headed to the Cheerful Pit Stop in Beaverton, Oregon for some food and it was open mic night. The backup band was 24/7.

I had my guitar, but no strap, but I sang a few songs. “What I Got” by Sublime, “Hound Dog” by Elvis, and “Red House” by Jimi Hendrix.

It was a fun time, the band members switch out, some real good guitar players, drummers, etc. Might just have to head back there next week πŸ™‚

As you can see, having fun:

Open Mic Night

On that note, meeting up with 3 guys tonight to jam to see if we want to start something up, should be cool.

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Life

Pedalpalooza 2007 – The Naked Ride

Ok, so last night I didn’t do much, well, watched Matrix Reloaded and Matrix Revolutions. I think I have only seen them once, where the first Matrix I have seen like 1000 times. Around 12:10 AM, I start hearing screams and hollers and honking and craziness outside my window. I had the blinds closed, so I open them up, and what do I see?

700 people on bikes. Naked.

I would have taken a picture but I don’t want my blog to be XXX rated, so just imagine it.

What it is, is Pedalpalooza. Well, the naked ride is just part of the week long event. Pretty crazy though, the people were coming by for like 45 minutes to an hour, just screaming.

From the FAQ: IsnÒ€ℒt this illegal? The city of Portland wishes it was. See The Law.

One week in Portland and I am already seeing crazy things, who woulda thought? Maybe I would have joined them, if my bike wouldn’t have gotten jacked like 4 years ago from my garage (well, I probably still wouldn’t join them, maybe though :))

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Life

New Apartment

First post from my new apartment. I am tethered off my T-Mobile Dash right now. Still moving in. Sucks, have to park like 1-2 blocks away and carry stuff, but I am getting there, piano and some smaller things left.

The apartment itself is bigger than I thought, it has like a dining area, living area, bedroom, bathroom and kitchen. It isn’t the most glamorous place, but I expected that, the location is really good though, tons of things within a few blocks. One thing about Portland, they don’t have screens in the windows πŸ™‚

I am right above the coffee shop (Wired on Burnside) – man, yeah bagels smell good πŸ™‚

I will post up some pics later after I get more situated

 

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