Ferreira Duque de Braganca 20 Year Tawny Porto June 30, 2006
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The highlight of the day was the food at dinner. Talli made an excellent curry dish and an excellent tofu dish. After dinner we had some biscuits with organic fruit spread. There was also tea and some delicious 20 year old tawny porto. Ah the port! It was excellent. We opened it yesterday and here is my review.
It is a very smooth 20 year tawny with a beautiful bouqet. It had a nice slightly woody flavor with that not overstated berry taste. The taste is complex, but not overly so and has a nice long finish with no after taste. I just need a course in porto wine tasting to truly do this wine justice. It is truly better than I could describe, even after two days of drinking it. I’ll just have to sample it some more. 
My research was curtailed a bit by a spotty internet connection for an hour or so, but everything is moving forward nicely. Hopefully the research will result in a good outcome. Enjoy your nights everyone, live life and be happy. I’ll do the same.
Virtual Food June 29, 2006
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Is what we put in hummingbird feeders real food? It’s colored red and they ask you to add sugar into it and shake. It seems like McDonalds for hummingbirds. They seem to like it though. Luckily, they still go to the flowers in the garden and they don’t seem to be gettiing fat off it. I just hope it’s good for them. I’ll have to check that out later.
I’m still doing internet and multiverse research. I’ve learned some amazing stuff. I’ll be consulting people I know that use some of the different MMORPGs (Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Games) like WOW (World of Warcraft) and social networking sites like MySpace. Those are going to be predecessors to the next generation of the web in my opinion. We could call it Web 3.0 or Web 3D. I think I’ll be strange though and call it Web 3.0D. Well, maybe not. I’ll coin the true name in my article that will follow on the evolving web.
Until then, I’ll be consulting with what will not be a representative sampling. I’m not worried about those with less money. They won’t be on board for a few years after the initial push. They’ll be very important later, but not right away. I’ll also be focusing on the younger generations since they’ll be more comfortable with the technology. Stay tuned… On the next post, I’ll be reviewing Ferreira’s 20 Year Tawny Porto.
Wine of the Day June 28, 2006
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Talli and I opened a bottle of Organic Wine Works’ a’ Notre Terre’ Red Table Wine. It’s a very nice red wine. It went very well with our dinner even though Talli prepared us a spicy tofu dish. It was nice to have a slightly higher quality of wine tonight. Luckily, we drink slow, so it’ll last a couple more days.
Today was a research day for me on the internet. Talli and I are still kicking ideas around. Today was an especially good brainstorming session. I’m trying to kick in an ability to be a futurist. I believe that if I can figure out where the world will be in 5-10 years, then I’ll be well placed when it gets here.
We also had some nice biscuits today with tea. Talli is constantly trying to add to her repertoire. I think they’ll be even better tomorrow with a fruit spread filling instead of a chocolate topping. We’ll see…
I’ll let you all get to bed. I have to get back to work.
So Many Plums! June 26, 2006
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Here’s another one of our fruit trees. It’s our Santa Rosa Plum tree. As you can see, it’s overladen with fruit just like our loquat tree was. The fruit are great though. I’m trying to pick them late enough that they are very ripe, but early enough that no branches break. Some of the lower branches are bending precipitously. Some of the other branches are holding up better since I tied them up. I should probably tie up the lower branches as well, but I didn’t have good luck with doing that, so I’m forgoing it and hoping for the best.
Tomorrow will be dedicated to podcast production, so it will be a busy day. I decided to move it to Tuesday because our Monday workouts always take a while and it makes it harder for me to get everything done in one day, which is my goal. I’m off to have evening tea with Talli, so I’ll talk to you all tomorrow.
Birthday @ Cattleman’s June 25, 2006
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Yesterday was a nice meal at Cattleman’s with my Uncle Hans for his birthday. Actually there were twenty people present, so it wasn’t exactly an intimate get together, but it was pretty nice. I got to see my Dad’s cousin Thea, who I hadn’t seen in a while along with her husband Dennis and daughter Danielle. A couple of My Uncle’s friends were also there.
On a presonal note, I got to have a 14oz sirloin steak which was pretty good, but the edges of it were way too salty for me. The center was nice though. I’m speaking from experience of course. When working I had an opportunity to eat at lots of high quality steak places. My favorites are still in Seattle. There is supposed to be a great one in Dublin I believe. It’s named Vic’s, but I’ve never gone there before. One day, I’ll give that one a try.
Once again, thank you Uncle Hans for a great dinner and I hope you had a great birthday!
Another Small Update June 23, 2006
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Today was a day to relax and pretend I’m on vacation instead of working on being an entrepreneur. Yes, everyone needs a vacation sometimes. Did I relax the whole day? No…*sheepishly* I guess I’m a little of a workaholic, but I cut my work to one quarter strength. So, as you can see, I delegated the jumping at the tree task to Hunter. He was kind enough to take care of it for me, but just this once he assured me.
Today was cooler. The pond was warmer. The breeze just died down, but it’s comfortable here if you stick to shorts. I’m skipping the Irvington High School 12 year class reunion since I can’t motivate myself to go and it costs $60/person to go. Why a 12 year reunion? I guess they couldn’t motivate themselves to set up a reunion until now. This is the first. It’s sad really. It’s been so long, I hardly care to go.
That’s all for today’s update, except to wish my Uncle Hans a happy birthday. His birthday is actually tomorrow, but I might be too busy tomorrow being at his birthday party at Cattleman’s to post.
Next time, I’ll have more to update…I hope.
Tomato Cages June 22, 2006
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Talli and I walked to OSH (Orchard Supply Hardware) today to get some tomato cages for our tomatoes. Unfortunately, it is late in the season, so they didn’t have the round metal ones that I’m used to.
I had a tough choice to make. I could either get square metal cages that seemed a little big or get some bamboo U’s that came in packs of three U’s. I went with the second choice because using the bamboo, two packs would make me three cages and I would pay 20 cents less for three bamboo cages than I would for two metal cages. Besides, bamboo is the more sustainable choice since bamboo grows so fast. It is a grass after all.
After our purchase, we made the walk back with six packs of three bamboo U’s. That’s when the other benefit of my choice became apparent. The bamboo was much lighter and less awkward to carry. I could barely feel the weight.
Once we got home, I set them up and watered the garden. The photo you see here is prewatering. The cages seem to be what we needed. If I think the tomatoes need more support later, I’ll tie them to the bamboo.
Now, I’m just waiting for the house to cool down… 
Talli’s Masterpiece June 21, 2006
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Here’s Talli with her masterpiece, “Organic, Butter Free, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Cookies”! She achieved her status as a Master of Organic, Healthy Baking with this creation. All Hail Master Talli! Long live the Master of Organic, Healthy Baking!
Talli’s cookies were really that good. I actually ate too many since I liked them so much. Next time I’ll try to hold back to make them last longer. It’s hard though because they taste so good. 
Today was a hot one here with our thermometer registering about 90 degrees at 2:00. We toughed it out though and the temperature is subsiding although I’m still waiting for a good cool evening breeze off the bay to help us out.
Despite the heat, I had better get back to business. Good night everyone!
Making Money Online June 20, 2006
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Show #3 of Millionaire or Bust is almost packaged and ready for release. I like to have one show in the can so that I know I won’t miss a deadline. The script for the fourth show is started, but will be updated until the show is recorded which won’t be until next week.
I got down to some writing today. It was nice to be able to crank out a little fiction again. It’s been quite a while. I was also able to do some research and a lot of reading. Some business ideas are starting to loosely coalesce. It still looks more like a nebula than a galaxy, but hey that’s where stars are born.
In the photo here, you can see me sitting and collecting the second life version of social welfare. I’m sitting in a money chair that pays out 24L$ per hour. While my avatar was collecting money, I was working in the real world. I was not sitting there watching my avatar sit and collect money. Too boring. I’m still really curious about online worlds like Second Life and Project Entropia. I’ll bring you all some info on that trend later. I will give you this tidbit. One person purchased a piece of virtual land online in Project Entropia for $26,500 and made back their investment in a year. Think about that.
Ethical? June 19, 2006
Posted by David in Editorial, Nature, Technology.2 comments
What you’re looking at here is a pet that is still in the approval stages. It’s a genpet. It looks like a toy, but it’s not. It’s supposedly a genetically engineered animal. While in the package, it is sustained with an IV so that it is like being in the womb. It is then supposed to imprint on the person who opens the package. I hope that they’re careful using scissors on that package, those always give me trouble.
The animals are genetically engineered to have one of several dispositions and one of two lifespans. The lifespans are one or three years. This is where I’m starting to have problems. First off, we’re engineering pets when there are plenty of pets being killed in pounds around the country. Second, we’re setting a death date for those pets. That seems wrong to me on so many levels. I’m not sure if I should buy one to save it from languishing in plastic or boycott the company because they’d only make more anyway…
I’ll let you all check it out and decide for yourselves.
