Random thoughts and observations from a guy with a lot on his mind…
After a summer of mistakes Netflix is finding itself short on customers and cash. They are trying to raise $200 million through the sales of bonds. I think that should cover the lost revenue from losing 1-million customers in a quarter.
I used to LOVE Netflix but a 60% membership hike and a dismal choice of streaming content made canceling my subscription very easy.
My son & I ventured downtown last Saturday to check out the Indy Winter Farmers Market that’s now in the historic Indianapolis City Market. The plan was to do a little scouting around and then head to the Torta shop I reviewed the other day. The Torta shop ended up being closed because they are expanding (good news!). We both immediately decided to go back to the City Market and check out 3 Days in Paris.
We had a great experience at Findlay Market’s Crêpe Shop in Cincinnati so we were hoping for something similar. Like the other shop the food is made in front of you and it takes about 5 minutes to make it. Like Cincinnati there was a gathering of people waiting on their food and watching the crêpe makers in action.
We ordered one sweet and one savory crêpe. The sweet being one of the day’s specials ($5.00). It consisted of chocolate, bananas, marshmallows and crushed graham crackers. The savory called “Red Eggs & Bacon” ($6.50) was filled with Egg, Bacon, Havarti, Spinach and Roasted Red Pepper Sauce. I put a little squirt of Siracha sauce on the savory plate just in case it needed a little flavor boost.
One of the things I like about the City Market is the ring of balcony seating on the second floor. It gives a great view of the facility and it’s out of the way of the crowds. We headed upstairs and grabbed a table with a great view.
We were both very happy with our decision to return to the market for lunch. I liked the Indianapolis version of my crêpe better than the one in Cincinnati, mainly because it had more flavor. I did end up using a little Siracha towards the end though. The sweet crêpe was very good and the dark chocolate kept it from being overly sweet.
I’ve been using WordPress (WP) for a while now & thought I knew all of the ins and outs. After playing this game I’ve discovered I still have a lot to learn.
I’m thinking about changing the look and feel of the Blog again. Unfortunately I can’t seem to find a theme that I completely like. That’s where the flexibility of WordPress comes in; I can design my own! Now I just need to set aside the time needed to research, develop, test and implement.
I’ve always liked video games and it all started for me with Pong. Next came the Atari, Apple PC, Windows PC, Nintendo, Playstation, and X-Box. First Person games have always been my favorite, whether it’s a shooter, driving simulator or sports game. As long as it looks like I’m in the middle of the game I usually like it.
Enter Minecraft by Swedish creator Markus “Notch” Persson . It’s a first person game with an unusual twist, you create the game within the game. If you’re expecting cutting edge graphics you’re going to be in for a bug surprise. Although “simple” the game actually takes a little computer horsepower to run smoothly.
Minecraft starts you off in a randomly generated world with nothing in your inventory. Your first priority is to survive through the night:
Afterwards you start collecting materials to make more materials. Stone, iron ore, coal, etc. It’s a pretty addictive concept that is fun for any age level. I will warn you that this game can be a time suck. My son & I have spent hours on our respective computers building our own worlds. There are mufti-player options as well but we have not gotten that far yet.
Minecraft has monsters that come out at night that you have to defend yourself from and animals and plants you can grow or harvest for food. The more you get into the game the more you start to realize the unlimited potential the game has.
The process of mining is where the game gets interesting. Once you build the right tools you can set out to find more building materials. Sometimes you come across a cave which opens up into an underground world (complete with it’s own monsters and surprises). Other times you can just start digging and see what you can find.
YouTube has thousands of videos online that show you what can be done. There are people who have created full size replicas of the Starship Enterprise and others have created a Fleet of Battleships.
Minecraft can be played for free (older limited version) on the Official Website. You can purchase the game for ~$30. There was an IOS (Apple) version just released and an XBox edition is slated for release in Spring 2012.
As far as games go, I’m going to rate this one an 8 out of 10. It’s a new concept for me and it’s been a big hit with both myself and my son.
It’s back for a limited time and you can track one down here. I’m talking about the McRib from McDonalds and I learned late last week it has a cult-like following. There’s even a website (McRib Locator) that tracks sightings and a Twitter account for live updates.
Given that McDonalds rotates the McRib on and off the menu at seemingly random times the fans of the ground pork patty smothered in BBQ sauce had to turn to technology to help communicate sightings. For what it’s worth, the McRib is available year round in Germany.
While researching the McRib for this blog post (not a lot of researching mind you) it was interesting to note the sandwich debuted in 1981 marking its 30th anniversary this year.
As of today the McRib is starting to show up in the Indianapolis area so if you’re a fan or want to try it for the first time, you better act fast!
From the New York Times – Banks to Make Customers Pay Debit Card Fee
I guess this is one way for the banks to make up their losses with the low interest rates. I’m sure none of us like this & there’s not a lot we can do about it! Maybe this will spark more interest in Credit Unions (until they start doing this too).
One way to possibly avoid these fees is to go back to a cash based society (until the banks start charging for cash). I’m pretty much a cash free consumer who normally has less than $20 in his pocket at any given time (except for vacation for some reason). I like the ability to track spending and budgets. I find myself spending cash and not remembering where it all went when its gone.
So far a lot of the major banks seem to have jumped on this fee band wagon. Only time will tell if this becomes the norm or if the expected consumer backlash has an impact.
[Time for a nerdy post]
If you like to “tinker” with the web Microsoft’s WebMatrix tool just might be for you.
I’ve wanted to set up a development copy of the IndyScan.com blog at home but standing up a Linux server with PHP and all the other tools to make it work just seemed like to much work (I’ll admit I’m lazy sometimes). Enter WebMatrix. With this tool you can run a “virtual” web server inside of an application on your desktop. It reminds me of the old days when I used to edit IndyScan.com offline with Dream Weaver and “publish” the changes via FTP at the end of each editing session.
I’m using a virtual machine to do this but you can just as easily install the application on your primary machine. Once you install the WebMatrix application you can choose from dozens of open source content management and blogging tools. It’s as simple as downloading the tool and walking through a wizard to set the base site up (including SQL databases). You also have the option to develop the site from scratch (old school) and publish to your web server.
Once I installed WebMatrix I activated the WordPress package, exported my live site, and imported the XML file into the WebMatrix site. within 10 minutes I had a fully functional clone of my production site. Pretty cool!
So far I’ve had a lot of fun playing with alternatives to WordPress and seeing if my HTML/PHP coding skills are still up to par. If you are looking for an inexpensive (free) development platform be sure to check out WebMatrix.
[Nerdy post complete]
We stopped at Whole Foods yesterday looking for my wife’s favorite Gluten Free Teriyaki Sauce (San-J brand by the way) and took advantage of the many samples offered up. One of which was a dare for my son who will pretty much eat anything.
We both sampled the Rushing Waters Fisheries Smoked Trout Spread and promptly threw a tub into the cart. I’ve only had rainbow trout a few times & have always liked it. This stuff hit the spot. It’s a cream cheese/mayo based spread with little bits of smoked fish incorporated throughout. It actually reminds me of a Smoked Cheddar Cheese Ball with a softer/smoother texture.
An 8oz tub sells for $6.99 and I’ll be surprised if it lasts through the labor day weekend.
I found this group by chance through a mention on another site I follow. The Indianapolis Bloggers group’s mission is to become a gathering place for fellow bloggers in Indianapolis and the surrounding cities. Just looking at their site has led me to discover even more area bloggers with a lot of different interests.
Check it out & be sure to join if you have an active Indianapolis area blog!
