Dashboard Confessional - The Shade of Poison Trees

My latest purchase, The Shade of Poison Trees, is Dashboard Confessional's latest CD. Sure it's not like hearing them live. But seeing them live has it's own pros and cons. I experienced them live a month or two ago at the Summer Jamboree. If you're not into listening to screaming girls or a large crowd singing along to every song then it's probably best that you just get this CD and listen to in the privacy of your own home. All of the tracks and the entire CD of MP3s are available from Amazon.

Jon McLaughlin - Indiana

It was earlier this summer that my friend, Brad, introduced me to Jon McLaughlin. Well, not to Jon himself, but to his music. It was an easy sell. I was immediately hooked. I've loved listening to the MP3s I had but now I am the proud owner of his CD entitled Indiana. If you like Ben Folds and John Mayer, then I'd recommend you try Jon McLaughin's work. All of the songs from his Indiana CD are available DRM-free from Amazon.

Fuji Finepix Z10FD

I've done it! After years of using a hand-me-down digital camera, I've taken a big step forward purchasing my first-owner camera. I initally ordered it on Oct 16th through Amazon for $175.25. I was suprised to see that it wasn't going to ship until Oct 22nd. So I started looking around at other merchants. I found it listed on Buy.com for $165.99 and another $10 off if you use Google Checkout for the first time. Since Amazon was taking so long I thought I'd cancel my order with them and put one in with Buy.com. I did that on Oct 18th and to my surprise, it shipped on the 19th and is supposed to be at my home on Tuesday (23rd). Take that Amazon! They had me scheduled to receive the camera by Nov 2nd.

It seems like a good camera with some cool new features. I'm sure I'll write more about it once I get familar with it. And it should help make some good new posts!

Brooks Design Associates

A friend of mine, Darrin Brooks, from "the mission" is a designer and is currently teaching at the Utah State University. I've recently redesigned his website. In the past I've only done straight html/javascript websites for him. This time I got to use a little more of my current skill set by writing the site using ASP.NET 2.0 and css layout. The results are much better. Check it out by visiting Brooks Design Associates.

Beef and Beer Chili

With colder weather approaching and having recently received my September issue of Cooking Light, I decided that their Beef and Beer chili looked like it would be great for the cooler weather. I tried it a few Saturdays ago and liked it so much that I made it again a week earlier. I've just finished off the leftovers I had frozen and since I'm still thinking it's a good receipe, I'm posting it here. Enjoy!

Beef and Beer Chili

Cornmeal helps thicken the chili to a satisfying consistency. Serve with a chilled lager. Time: 41 minutes.

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups chopped red onion (about 1 medium)
• 1 cup chopped red bell pepper (about 1 small)
• 8 ounces extralean ground beef
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 1 1/2 tablespoons chili powder
• 2 teaspoons ground cumin
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 teaspoon dried oregano
• 1 (19-ounce) can red kidney beans, drained
• 1 (14.5-ounce) can no-salt-added diced tomatoes, undrained
• 1 (14-ounce) can low-sodium beef broth
• 1 (12-ounce) bottle beer (such as Budweiser)
• 1 tablespoon yellow cornmeal
• 1 tablespoon fresh lime juice

Preparation

Combine first 4 ingredients in a large Dutch oven over medium-high heat. Cook 5 minutes or until beef is browned, stirring to crumble. Stir in chili powder, cumin, sugar, and salt; cook 1 minute. Add oregano and next 4 ingredients (through beer) to pan; bring to a boil. Reduce heat, and simmer 15 minutes. Stir in cornmeal; cook 5 minutes. Stir in juice.

Yield

4 servings (serving size: 1 1/2 cups)

Nutritional Information

CALORIES 261(20% from fat); FAT 5.7g (sat 2.1g,mono 2g,poly 0.2g); PROTEIN 18.3g; CHOLESTEROL 30mg; CALCIUM 74mg; SODIUM 799mg; FIBER 8.3g; IRON 3.7mg; CARBOHYDRATE 30.3g

Jackie Mills, M.S., R.D. , Cooking Light, SEPTEMBER 2007

Darin & Rachel Johnston

Darin Johnston & Rachel Borup

married September 27, 2007
(Photo from the recption October 4, 2007)

The Truth About Rebates

(At least the truth about this rebate)

So earlier this summer I noticed that fan on my power supply of my home computer was not spinning. After checking with my support technician, I decided that I needed to bite the bullet and go ahead and get a new power supply before my old one caused serious damage to the rest of my system. I found a deal on one of my favorite "deal" sites that I check daily: Ben's Bargains. It was an Antec Basiq 500 Watt Power Supply for $40 after two separate $20 rebates. So I bought it.

I got it home and got it installed. It was working beautifully. The problem for me was that I didn't follow my normal procedure and fill of the rebate forms immediately. Several days went by and the box to my new power supply was sitting on my counter just waiting for me to cut out the UPC. Apparently I waited long enough so that I didn't give it a second thought when I threw it out while cleaning house. Of course the next day was garbage day and the box with it's UPC barcode was long gone.

After beating myself up over and over about it, I came up with a plan. I would go back to Circuit City and ask them if I could get a photo copy of the UPC barcode. At least, I could get one of the rebate checks. (The other required the original UPC.) They obliged fortunately. In fact after I explained the story, one of the helpful salesmen suggested that I try sending in a copied UPC with the rebate that required the original. After all I was already out $20. So what was another 41 cents for a stamp.

I submitted both of the rebate forms with copies of the UPC barcode and then tried to forget about them. So you can imagine my surprise when I received both rebates in the mail. Maybe this doesn't happen most of the time. Maybe it was just good luck. But if I ever find myself in this situation again, you can be assured that I will try it again.