Hand Coding

I stopped by Super Target on the way home from the gym last night and, by the time I got back to the apartment, it was almost 10pm. I didn’t feel like making dinner at that point, so I asked Mike whether he had already eaten dinner (he hadn’t) and suggested that we head off to Quizno’s (there’s one less than a mile from here). My recollection was that Quizno’s closed at 10:30, so it looked like we had enough time.

But, we got there and quickly realized that their closing time was actually 10:00 (doh!). But, Humperdinks was just across the street, so we decided to give that a try (out of curiosity, what other restaurants are open past 10pm in the Lovers & Greenville area?).

Humperdinks has its own brewery and we both wanted to make use of that. Their “Total Disorder Porter” caught my eye and we both ordered one. It was also the special of the day, which was a pleasant surprise. While it wasn’t quite at the level of a Fuller’s Porter, it still very well done (and if it were sold in stores, I’d probably buy it from time to time).

Both Mike and I had a hard time deciding on the menu, but I settled on a Border Burger (a 1/2 pound burger with guacamole, bacon, Pepperjack cheese, jalapeños and salsa) while Mike went for a Ranch Chicken sandwich (a chicken sandiwch with Monterey Jack, ranch dressing, bacon strips, lettuce and tomato).

I noticed on the menu that the Humperdinks Melt was actually served on rye bread (along with Swiss cheese). And considering how ordinary most buns are, I got to thinking that perhaps the Border Burger might be even better on rye. And even though I’ve had a Border Burger previously, I wasn’t sure about those “spicy jalapeños”. So, when I ordered the burger, I asked whether I could get it on rye (and without jalapeños). The server didn’t seem to mind that substitution.

Once the food arrived, I was pleased that the rye bread was thickly cut (about half an inch) and toasted as well. Border Burgers are already tasty, but the rye bread just made it even better. The slight tartness of the rye along with the salsa and guacamole was a great combination.

It helped that the beer was the day’s special ($3.50 for 20oz or so), but the burger was still $9. It was delicious, but I’m still not sure if it was worth $9 (maybe $7-8 would have been more fair). So, once again, rye saves the day. Now if only they’d make a rye pizza :).

Via MediaBistro’s Daily Media News Feed, Disney ousted Microsoft’s reputation in the media. These second-quarter results were derived by studying 60k news items:

Higher attendance at theme parks and stronger box office receipts from its newest films, “Finding Nemo” and “Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl,” helped catapult The Walt Disney Company to the top of Delahaye’s most recent Media Reputation Index, a quarterly assessment of how news coverage affects corporate reputation. […]

The second quarter results, which are based on an analysis of more than 60,000 news items, also found that technology was the strongest of all sectors, with Microsoft, IBM, Intel, Hewlett Packard, Cisco Systems and Dell claiming six of the top 20 spots. […]

I haven't been able to find the complete list online, but the article includes the top 10:

Second Quarter 2003 Media Reputation Index — Top Ten Companies:

1. The Walt Disney Company
2. Microsoft
3. Intel
4. Wal-Mart
5. General Motors
6. IBM
7. Home Depot
8. Coca-Cola
9. Bank of America
10. AOL Time Warner

Disturbingly enough, it resembles a list of Companies To Avoid. In particular, I wouldn’t touch Disney, Microsoft, nor GM with a ten-foot pole. And Disney, with its let’s-make-copyright-last-forever nonsense, is more evil than most.

In a HHOS?-esque moment, I’m wondering whether the other companies on the list should be avoided as well ;). Granted, I already avoid Intel and AOL, but that’s primarily because their competitors make superior products (not because they’re evil, per se). Likewise, I don’t drink Coke, but that’s just because they don’t have a Splenda-based soda yet (unlike Diet RC & Diet Rite).

Both Wal-Mart and Home Depot are large companies, to be sure, but they seem fairly normal to me. And, I’ve never been a Bank of America customer, so I can’t speak of them one way or another. And on the other hand, IBM actually appears to be one of the Good Guys(TM) these days, with its fight against SCO.

Most people are familiar with low carb diets such at Atkins or (to an extent) The Zone, and now some people are trying a high carb diet called System S:

The System S Diet turns the high-fat, low-carbs ideal of Atkins on its head, promoting high carbs and sugar to ensure a low-fat diet.

Women are also likely to rejoice at the idea that having a little bit of what we like, such as chocolate and sugar, can equal sustained weight loss. […]

Sugar, especially that in carbohydrates, has fewer calories than fat and also makes you full.

Those on high-fat diets find it takes longer to get the information that they are full. […]

A diet with chocolate and sugar? Now I think I’ve heard everything <g>. And even though carbs might make you feel full more quickly, I found that they’re digested more quickly than protein or fat — which can result in recurring hunger sooner :-/. And corn syrup, in particular, has its own problems — unlike sugar, it doesn’t trigger the stomach hormone ghrelin which tells the body that it’s full.

I learned from the DPReview Newsletter that Canon has announced a consumer digital SLR based on their existing EOS 10D — the EOS Digital Rebel The body-only kit wiill retail for $899, while a bundle with an EF-S 18-55mm lens only sets you back $999 (!). It includes a 6.3 Megapixel CMOS (just like the EOS 10D and D60) and DCResource lists these differences with the 10D (which doesn’t seem that bad).

Differences between this camera and the EOS-10D:

• No PC flash sync port [of the differences, this may be the most significant]
• No ISO 3200 option
• LCD info display on back of camera (versus the top on 10D/D60)
• White balance can’t be set by color temperature
• Plastic body vs. (mostly) metal body
• Burst rate is superior on the 10D

Back when I was shopping around for my digital camera, I did consider the Canon EOS 10D for a little while since it was very reasonably priced for a digital SLR ($1499 list). However, I didn't have any SLR lenses (Canon or otherwise), so that would have added even more to the price of the camera. And, all together, it was just out of my reach.

However, with the Digital Rebel’s body & lens kit going for $999, the prospect of a digital SLR is becoming more and more affordable. I’m very happy with the camera I have now, so I don’t think I’ll be upgrading to a digital SLR anytime soon. But when I do make the upgrade, I’m pleased that it may cost only a little more than the camera I have now.

It's against the law for police to set up a narcotics checkpoint — but a pretend checkpoint is fine, the Colorado Court of Appeals has ruled.

They were driving to a music festival in far southwestern Colorado when they saw the big signs posted along the road.

“Narcotics checkpoint, one mile ahead.”

“Narcotics canine ahead.”

The passenger tossed something out the window, and they just kept going. That was only the petty offense of littering — a little crime — but it was the start of something big.

It’s against the law for police to set up narcotics checkpoints to check whether any randomly passing motorists happen to have illegal drugs.

But it’s not illegal for the police to pretend that’s what they’re doing, the Colorado Court of Appeals ruled Thursday. […]

I’m not sure what the laws are in Texas, but I’d presume that they’re similar. As a non-drug-user, I suppose it doesn’t apply to me anyway, but it’s interesting from a civil liberties perspective.

This month’s DFWBlogs Cocktail Event was at Old Monk. With such a name, I wasn’t sure what to expect, but I became quickly intrigued as I read the GuideLive review:

The menu has only 16 items, which range from traditional pub grub such as German sausages ($7.50) and fish and chips ($7.50) to the national dish of Belgium, moules frites (mussels and french fries, $8.95). The mussels and fries are as good, or better, than versions I have eaten in France. […]

German sausages? Well, say no more! That made my entree choice very easy :). The GuideLive review also mentioned their Belgian and German beers, so I went to see whether I could find their beer list. Normally, I'd check their webpage, but a search on Google for “old monk dallas” turned up nothing.

However, I did find this Old Monk section on BeerAdvocate (Beer Advocate is apparently a user-contributed site of restaurant reviews with a focus on beer). And I was pleased to see that some of the reviewers mentioned some of Old Monk’s beers.

So, it wasn’t a complete beer list, but it was a start. As usual, I cross-referenced those beers with the ratings at RateBeer.com — the numbers below include each beer’s score (out of five) and its percentile-ranking.

• Chimay - Bleu is 4.16 / 99.3% (!), Red is 3.89 / 95.4%
• Duvel - 3.88 / 95%
• Corsendonk - 3.82 / 93.4%
• Liefmans - 3.77 / 90.9%
• Hoegaarden - 3.7 / 87.6%

There were more beers than just those beers listed at the Beer Advocate page, but I didn’t include beers that I couldn’t find at RateBeer nor those that didn’t score well. And, since some of the beer descriptions on Beer Advocate were vague, I wasn’t sure about some of the specific brews (Chimay has serveral, for instance, though only “Chimay” was mentioned).

Once I arrived at Old Monk, I ordered the German Plate and I was about to order a Chimay Bleu, but I then noticed that they didn’t actually have that Chimay variety (though they had Chimay Red, Chimay Grand Reserve and Chimay White). (I just now discovered that Chimay Grand Reserve is an alias for Chimay Bleu — oops.) However, I quickly noticed that they had Fuller’s Porter — a beer I hadn’t seen previously mentioned in any of the Old Monk reviews.

I needed no encouragement in ordering the Fuller’s Porter — I’m not only a fan of porters but the Fuller is also the top rated porter at RateBeer.com! The 16oz bottle didn’t hurt, either.

The porter soon arrived, along with the sausages. The sausages were of two varieties, though I can’t recall their names at the moment (one was pinkish while the other was more whitish). They included some mustard on the side which went perfectly with the sausages — full of flavor and spice but not too hot.

The porter itself was fantastic and I’m not surprised by its high ratings. It had almost a coffee-like taste but without coffee’s bitter aftertaste (as my roommate Mike put it). I don’t even like coffee but I still found this to be a delicious beer. This is easily my favorite porter and possibly my second-favorite beer (Ayinger Celebrator Doppelbock is still first).

After the Fuller’s, I gave some thought to my second beer. Before arriving, I was all set on ordering a Chimay Bleu. But, of course, that was seemingly the one Chimary variety that Old Monk didn’t have. So, I went for a Chimay Red (“only” in the 95.4th percentile). The Red was a good beer, to be sure, though I’m not sure it lived up to its high expectations. It had more carbonation than I expected and a slight sweetness (which isn’t a bad thing, but just not what I was in the mood for at the time).

I really enjoyed Old Monk and on the drive home I was trying to think whether there were any Cocktail Events that I had enjoyed more. Up to that point, The Meridian Room was probably my favorite (their service, in particular, was exceptional). But after thinking it over, I don’t know if there’s anywhere other than Old Monk where I could get some tasty sausages along with such a good selection of beers in Dallas.

(And, Old Monk apparently has a website after all, though all I see is a broken puzzle piece <g>)

According to rumors summarized by The Register, Apple may be readying new 15" and 17" PowerBooks:

PowerPage claims the new model sports a 1.25GHz G4 processor and support for 800Mbps 1394, aka FireWire 800. The new 15in PowerBook presents all its ports on the right-hand side of the machine. In looks, says PowerPage’s source, the new model looks like a scaled-down 17in model — it even features the latter’s illuminated keyboard. […]

PowerBooks are really due for an update — they were last released in January and it’s been 225 days since then (the average time between PowerBook updates is 146 days). Of course, some people have been saying “any day now” since Apple slashed PowerBook prices back in June. Still, a PowerBook would be really tempting and a fresh release might be enough to push be towards one.

Charles Weinstein has an otherwise-normal signature that he’s been using for more than eight years — except that it’s upside-down. He's used it on checks, credit cards and other official documents, but the Delaware DMV isn’t accepting it:

He said he trained himself to write his name in this unusual way, working right-side up, as a way to make his mark unique. He said he has been signing his name this way for more than eight years on all official papers, checks, credit cards — even his old driver’s license. It was never a major problem until this week, he said, when he went to the DMV office on Airport Road to change his address.

Weinstein said a window clerk told him to “stop fooling around and sign it right.” When he insisted that what he wrote was his valid, legal signature, Weinstein said the clerk accused him of being a troublemaker and threw him out. […]

Writing one’s signature upside-down is an interesting trick, though I can’t imagine how long it took him to learn that technique or what methods he used to wrap his head around it.

Using an acting analogy, I’m curious whether he used “method writing” (where he actually learned to write the characters in his name upside-down and then wrote those in sequence to form his signature) or whether he merely learned how to mimic the look of his upside-down signature.

(Via the Crypto-Gram newsletter.)

The good news: Randy Blaun appears to have invented a low carb chip.

Can there be such a thing as a healthy chip? Randy Blaun, a writer and self-proclaimed foodie living in New York, claims to have invented just that: french fries that have as many nutrients and as much fibre as a serving of broccoli.

Moreover — and this should be of profound interest to the millions following diets such as the high-protein, low-carbohydrate one proposed by Dr Robert Atkins — Ms Blaun’s chips are low in carbohydrates. They have six to eight milligrams of carbohydrates a serving [I presume that “milligrams” is a typo. — Alex], compared with 20-plus in a serving of regular chips. […]

The bad (or silly, depending on your point of view) news? The guy patented his recipe :-/.

Ms Blaun’s patent application, published in June, reveals her secret ingredient: cauliflower.

Cauliflower chips? Well, not just cauliflower. Also egg whites and calcium caseinate, which is derived from milk, and “just enough potato to make it potato-y”.

I’m not sure what to think of this, though I’ll believe it when I taste it. And if you're confused by someone named “Randy” being Ms Blaun, then that makes two of us :-/.

The Dallas Camera Club had its annual Photo Scavenger Hunt on Saturday, at the Fort Worth Stockyards. For those not aware, the Stockyards are roughly a Disneyland for cowboys — the couple-block area looks somewhat like an old-west set and everything is cowboy-themed.

We started early, at 9:00am, with the idea of beating the heat. We’d take photographs around noon and then we’d meet for lunch. We had to find and photograph these 10 items: breeze, look-up, look-down, tarantula, water, boots, hooved animals, gold, red, purple, and a cowboy. Many of the items were open to iterpretation, such as the colors in particular.

My strategy was to get token pictures of each item first and then go around and get better photographs with my remaining time. For instance, the Visitors’ Center had flowers out front that were gold, red and purple (which took care of all three of those). Then, as the morning went on, I looked for other items in those categories so that I wouldn’t have to use the flowers for all three keywords. I think I got all ten items, though I haven’t downloaded the images to my PC yet. I’ll probably post some of the better ones in a later entry.

After taking pictures all morning, we met for lunch at the H3 Ranch restaurant, which is part of the Stockyards Hotel. They have a fairly ordinary menu, including tacos, chicken-fried steak, and burgers. I went with a bacon-cheddar cheeseburger, though I asked the server if they had cheeses other than cheddar. They had pepper jack and I went with that.

The burger came with seasoned fries which were better than I thought they’d be. I added a touch of ketchup, at first, but it turned out that the fries were just fine on their own. The burger itself was mediocre; the top bun was too thick while the bottom bun was too thin and actually soggy. The cheese was fine but the bacon wasn’t crispy and I got the impression that it had been cooked much earlier and later added.

Some of us stayed for dessert and that turned out well. Their dessert menu had about four items, I think (cheesecake, hot brownie with Jack Daniels ice cream, peach cobbler, and one other item). Though hot brownies are hella-delicious, I just wasn’t sure about that Jack Daniels ice cream.

So, I ordered the cheesecake instead (with pecan praline sauce). I hadn’t tried praline sauce on cheesecake before, but it was really nice — it wasn’t too thick and had a good pecan flavor. And the cheesecake itself was some of the best that I’ve ever had — it was dense but with a light and fluffy texture.

I had such a great time and I was sorry to learn that the Dallas Camera Club only has scavenger hunts once a year. However the club has normal field trips every month. I’ll probably go to more of those as they’ll help me to stay in practice and learn more about photography.