matthias ....

In my line of work, and I'm sure many others, there are often conflicting interests between day to day things that need to happen and bigger, more interesting things that are important. Sometimes it feels like the difference between unclogging the toilet and building a swimming pool ... yeah, the pool would sure be nice, but nobody wants to see the toilet overflow.

In the end it comes down to conflicting priorities and over the past short while I've been contemplating the difference and relationship between tasks and projects.

I've been doing IT for a long time. I've tried running with multiple systems. I've used multiple monitors. I've struggled against disk space limitations and longed for a faster processor, a 2nd processors and more powerful graphics cards. I've changed my thinking entirely.

First, I've realized that most of my work happens on servers and those servers will always be more powerful than my personal computing device. In the end my personal device is primarily an input/output tool and I need a monitor and a keyboard.

It's a tedious process converting a bunch of old movies to a digital format, but I'm finally making progress. In then end it helps if you have some decent scripts to help converting vcr to avi.

Since I've been trying to step up my game in the kitchen, I found that some really good spices are only helpful. A friend of mine introduced me to the Savory Spice Shop.

Just the other day, we made another trip to replace some other old spices from the cupboard such as turmeric and white pepper. At any rate the place is aweome and if you do go, check out the shallot salt and the various types of paprika.

Yeah, vegetarian sausage will likely sound odd to a lot of people, but it's out there and as a vegetarian it's a nice option. There are a few pre-made options, but many of them are just not very good. The best ones out there were made by Boca, but after they were acquired by Kraft, they disappeared from store shelves. That's what spawned my interest in making my own.

Ever since we managed to successfully embark on a nearly month long trip to Europe, I wanted to put together some of the steps we took to make it happen. Well, things move slowly sometimes, but after some web site migrations, life and not to mention the actual writing, I'm pleased to report that I finally put Planning a European Vacation online!

So, as part of my job I enjoy a review process and part of that is an HR form of dubious use. My manager on the other hand goes beyond the form in his review of my performance. Well, I'm also a manager and like to go beyond the HR form and so I started thinking about how I can understand my efforts during the course of the year.

I use RescueTime to help me understand how I spend my time during the day. I'm not required to do this, but I like knowing how I spend my time in a more granular fashion and so I started looking a little more broadly.

I've long wanted to try making my own seitan, ever since having the spicy setian hotwings at the Watercourse restaurant. In case you don't know what seitan is, it's basically wheat gluten also referred to as wheat meat.

I'd tried the store bought stuff and had it in a couple of other places, but never really got into it until I had those hotwings.

I have a new favorite TV show: More Fast Food My Way starring Jacques Pépin.

In his Episode 223: Dessert First! he makes italian sausage patties served over cornmeal mush. It's basically a combination of italian sausage without the casing, mushrooms, day old bread, green onions and some spices that are basically kneaded together and then shaped into patties.