forgo daily

Yah, that’s right. Colorado wins:

I say it’s because of all of the Ethiopian restaurants around here.

From here.

Have you ever had natural, unsalted peanut butter? If not, you should. The transition may be rough at first, but it’s worth it. It tastes like.. well.. peanuts. And that’s it. I don’t understand JIF peanut butter any more; it’s overly salted and smooth. It makes me feel like something good was ruined. I’m a peanut butter snob. When I get my Blendtec, I’m going to make my own.

I think that pouring locally produced organic milk into a bowl of Fruity Pebbles is a bit ironic. And possibly asinine. And that leads to …

You should read The Omnivore’s Dilemma. It’s a very eye-opening look at our industrialized food chain (although it needs an update to account for the recent biofuel craziness). Also, you should get it from your local public library. They are free and convenient (you can request books from across your state and have them delivered to the library down the street) and you don’t end up with piles of books all over your house/office/car.

A good acquaintance of mine recently wrote a letter to the Democratic National Committee describing his displeasure and confusion at essentially not being able to vote for the democratic candidate but at the same time being asked to donate money to the DNC. He’s not alone in his feelings. While I don’t claim to support or not support his views or any political party, I felt inclined to post his letter (with his permission) simply because I enjoyed it. Here it is:

March 13, 2008

Democratic National Committee
Membership Records Dept.
430 South Capitol Street, SE
Washington, D.C. 20003

Dear DNC,

I’m writing to request that you call me discuss a most puzzling matter, and for your convenience, I have enclosed funds to offset the cost.

As I understand your solicitation letter, which I have received annually since 2002, you want me to support an organization that is determined to deprive me of my vote this coming November. You want me to help fund an effort to disenfranchise me (and untold millions of others in my home state of Michigan as well as Florida) in this one of the most historic opportunities for Democrats since FDR stood at the helm of our nation.

I am proud to say I have supported the Democratic Party with either my votes or financial support since turning 21 and voted for the first time for Lyndon Johnson in 1964, and, yes, for George McGovern in 1972 when hardly anybody else took that courageous step!!

So I am mystified as to why you want, first, to deprive me of continuing this rich history of citizenship and second, to actually help provide money to do it!!

I’m sorry for being so thick-headed, but something just doesn’t feel right, you know?? Granted, I’m going on age 67, and probably won’t have that many more opportunities to support my Democratic candidate for president, and the Democratic Party to which I always subscribe and for which I so proudly cast my presidential vote every four years, and every two years for our Democratic state and national congressional leadership.

But I just don’t get it…

I hark back to the day when we were known as “yellow dog democrats,â€? the kind of solid party supporter that would even vote for a yellow dog, as long as he/she was a Democrat. Now — well, I just don’t know…

Please call me at <number omitted> any workday evening after 8:30 P.M. when I return home after working 11 hour days and explain to my most befuddled mind how – and why — you want me to help deprive myself of this quadrennial privilege. Many thanks in advance for the courtesy of your response.

Sincerely,

<name omitted>
<email address omitted>

I have not included the $.35 that he included with his letter.

I bought Mobile Stream’s USB Modem a bit ago. My laptop at the time didn’t have Bluetooth, so I used it exclusively over USB. Then, I recently got a new laptop that does have Bluetooth. USB Modem works over bluetooth, so I set about figuring out how to set it up. Apparently, it’s supposed to be obvious how to set it up because the USB Modem documentation simply says “Consult the documentation that comes with your Bluetooth software on setting up the DUN connection,” and I could not find any documentation with my bluetooth “software”. My Internet search turned up a bunch of nothing. So, I took bits and pieces of clues from different places, rolled up my sleeves, broke and had to restore my computer and figured it out. I’ll list what I did for the benefit of others cause it worked for me and may work for someone else.

First, we add the bluetooth modem.

1. Pair the Centro with the computer (even _I_ figured that out without any frustration)
2. Bring up the Bluetooth Devices window (Start -> “bluetooth” -> Bluetooth Devices)
3. Go to the COM Ports tab and click Add…
4. Ensure Incoming is selected and click OK
5. Go to the Devices tab, select your Centro and click Properties
6. Go to the Services tab, put a check next to Dial-up networking (DUN) and click OK
7. Click OK again to get rid of the Bluetooth Devices window
8. On the Centro, select Bluetooth connectivity mode and enable modem mode (I also suppressed built in DUN under the menu options in USB Modem)

Then, we create the network connection.

1. Go to the Network and Sharing Center
2. Click “Connect to a network” link on left
3. Click “Standard Modem over Bluetooth link” or whatever you named it
4. Enter the phone number (#777 for me with Sprint) and the username/password for your data plan (the username is displayed in the network prefs on the Centro; I’m not sure exactly where to find the password, but I got mine from a representative one time when on the phone)
5. Click Connect

Does it work? I think those are the steps I followed. I sometimes have to toggle the bluetooth radio on my laptop to get it to work. I have a Dell Latitude D630 with Vista. I assume, but don’t know, that you could safely substitute “Treo” for “Centro” in the instructions above.

I hope that helps someone!