Review: All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!

Posted on 6 May ’11 by Paul

All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space!All New Square Foot Gardening: Grow More in Less Space! by Mel Bartholomew

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I was interested in building some raised beds in our backyard to improve our garden space. This book and Mel’s philosophy kept coming up in my initial Internet raised bed browsing, so when I saw a copy on the shelf at Home Depot, I picked it up.

Just a great, straight-forward, no-nonsense guide to building raised beds, filling them with a home-mixed soil, and what to plant in your beds, how many to plant per square foot, and some initial thoughts on rotating crops from Spring to Summer.



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Test From Blogsy

Posted on 12 Apr ’11 by Paul

I just added the Blogsy app to my iPad. The promise of the app is quite cool: a blogging platform built for a touchscreen device (as opposed to a port of a web-based app)

This is my test.

Commencing image drag and post…

Hey look – it’s the Blogsy app icon found via the app’s Google search

And here is an image from my Flickr account, showing a homemade dog biscuit with some cool puppy paw bokeh

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Blair – “Candy in the Kitchen”

Posted on 15 Mar ’10 by Paul

Just heard this catchy little song on Sirius XMU and found a link to a free mp3 download of it online. The theme of the song reminds me of Kelley, who has been known to break into Whitney Houston song.

http://www.youaintnopicasso.com/2010/01/18/mp3-blair-candy-in-the-kitchen/

From the You Ain’t No Picasso description:

Is there anything cuter than a girl singing about dancing and encouraging others to dance? Japanese scientists are still working on topping it, I believe. Blair’s “Candy in the Kitchen” paints the picture of a girl whirling carefree in her kitchen to a Whitney Houston soundtrack.

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Dr. Dog Tonight

Posted on 4 Feb ’10 by Paul

Kelley and I will be at the Dr. Dog show tonight at Turner Hall. We first heard them at Lollapalooza 2008. They were playing on a stage near the wine tent where we had stopped to grab a glass and cool in the shade. I’ve been waiting for them to make a Milwaukee visit ever since.

Here’s the band doing “Hang On”:

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Vampire Weekend – Contra

Posted on 12 Jan ’10 by Paul

I downloaded the new Vampire Weekend album from Amazon yesterday (for only $3.99 — no idea how long that price will last, but it’s a steal). I haven’t been able to stop listening to it since, and I’m really looking forward to the March 23rd show at the Riverside now!

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I Just Read: Club Dead by Charlaine Harris

Posted on 13 Feb ’09 by Paul

Club Dead (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 3) Club Dead by Charlaine Harris



My review


rating: 2 of 5 stars
The plot of this book was entertaining, continuing to excite me about the direction of the “True Blood” series on HBO. However, Harris’ writing continues to leave much to be desired. A 300-page book simply should not use the phrase “that’s another word I learned from my Word-of-the-Day calendar” more than once, much less what was at least 6 times, and maybe up to a dozen by Harris in this book.



I also feel like she contradicts herself in her characterization of Sookie. On the one hand, you have the non-stop Word-of-the-Day references that make Sookie seem quite simple and relatively uneducated. On the other hand, Sookie immediately recognizes the bouncer at the bar as a goblin. C’mon…



I have to move on to a more well-written book next or I’ll lose my patience entirely with this box set.


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Stephen Colbert Thrashes Steve Martin (Christian Bale style)

Posted on 6 Feb ’09 by Paul


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Bacon and Nut Butters (no… not together)

Posted on 4 Feb ’09 by Paul

Two postings in the “Test Kitchen Secrets” section of cookinglight.com caught my attention today:

  • Two Steps to Perfect Bacon – I’ve never really succeeded in cooking good bacon, so these two simple steps might be exactly what I need.
  • Homemade Nut Butters – I probably eat peanut butter and toast for 4 of 7 breakfasts a week. Making my own without any of the preservatives sounds like an awesome alternative.
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I Just Read: Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris

Posted on 31 Jan ’09 by Paul

Living Dead in Dallas (Sookie Stackhouse, Book 2) Living Dead in Dallas by Charlaine Harris



My review


rating: 2 of 5 stars
Charlaine Harris’ writing improved a little from the first book in the Sookie Stackhouse series, but I still only rate the book as ‘ok’. There was very little mystery in the plot — most questions were answered almost immediately after they were presented. It also seems like this book was yet another attempt to introduce some characters for later usage in the series, without providing any real hints as to why they needed to be a part of this book.



On the plus side, this is a pretty darn quick read, and it gives me some hope about the 2nd season of True Blood.


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Neko Case “People Got a Lot of Nerve”: Download it for free + Post it to your blog for charity!

Posted on 14 Jan ’09 by Paul

Download: http://www.anti.com/media/download/708 (MP3)

I learned about this via BrooklynVegan link to the AntiLabelBlog story.

Today, we are especially happy to bring you “People Got A Lotta Nerve,” the first single from Neko Case’s forthcoming album Middle Cyclone (out March 3), because for every blog that reposts the song and/or iLike user who adds it to their profile, Neko Case and ANTI- will make a cash donation to Best Friends Animal Society.


People Got A Lotta Nerve – Neko Case

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