Quick Hitts

Driving a U-Haul moving van is like getting a piggyback ride from Michael Moore.  It’s bumpy, noisily, uncomfortable, pulls to the left, is difficult to maneuver and has huge blind spots on both sides. I just spent the past two days piloting one of these POS so I feel qualified to offer the following advice. [...]

I need some advice about home security cameras. Relatives are having trouble with a persistent and nasty vandal. They know who he is, but he strikes randomly and at night and they can’t prove he’s the culprit. They want to photograph him in the act. A few clear photos, or a video, combined with his [...]

Jehovah’s Witnesses are actively discouraged (virtually forbidden) from contributing to relief organizations in response to disasters.  On Friday afternoon someone on the Jehovah’s Witnesses Recovery Forum suggested setting up a site to encourage ex-JWs to donate to Haitian relief funds.  Friday night several of us had a conference call to plan out the details.  Now, [...]

About a year ago I signed up with Mozy, an off-site backup service.  For five bucks a month they back up your files on their servers, so you can restore them if you lose something. The few times I’ve needed them it’s been a simple process.  I’d click “restore” on their software and it showed [...]

Just a reminder, in case you haven’t listened to my interview with PodioRacket, you can find it here. Blood Witness has received a lot of attention and kudos, and this was a fun interview that got into some of the inspiration behind the book.  Check it out.

As an amateur chief I’m always looking for new ingredients to make my meals more interesting. For instance, one of my favorite ingredients is bulgogi sauce, a meat marinade made with Korean pear. You won’t find it in the supermarket. You’ll have to go to a store that specializes in Asian food. I don’t have [...]

I’m about to start a novel that will have some complex characters and an intricate plot. After hearing writers sing the praises of Scrivener, which is a Mac only application, I’ve been looking for something that will do the same thing on a PC. I’d like to be able to create an outline, character files, [...]