SHAPEWERKS

Recently some friends ran into a dip I make occasionally.  It is crazy addictive, and ridiculously easy to make.  It’s a version of “French Onion” sour cream-based dip using good spices from Penzey’s.

I actually feel a little silly calling it a “recipe”, even, since it’s such a tiny collection of things, but I suppose that’s what a recipe is….  Anyway, here it is:

ACR0′s Chip Dip, as recently deployed at Denhac

• Large tub o’ Sour Cream (I think it’s 16 ounces?  Might be 24.  I’ll look when I get home.  Heh.)
• 4 Tablespoons Penzey’s Chip & Dip Seasoning
• 2 Tablespoons Penzey’s Toasted Dried Onion (the toasted part is important, that’s what gives the “French Onion” flavor)
• Any other spices you might want to alter general flavor a bit.  I think I added a bit of Penzey’s garlic powder, just to kick it up.   Cayenne or other peppers are delightful.  Might even think about a bit of curry, just to send the flavor that direction.
• Couple tablespoons “light” olive oil (whisked in to become mayonnaise-like)

Whisk everything together, until  spices and olive oil are thoroughly integrated.  Serve with your favorite chips or veggies.

Once again, the podcast I work with has posted an amazing story.  It’s a two-parter with our friend Betsy.  I don’t really have the words.  Go read, and listen, here:

Episode 5 – Part 1: Betsy -Taking the Girl Out of Wyoming

Episode 5 – Part 2: Betsy – Taking the Shrapnel Out of Girl

One remnant of my marriage, I’ve discovered, is a certain fondness for having lots of green things growing on my porch.  Additionally, with some of the hot sauces I’ve played with in terms of homemakery, I think, would be increased, both in terms of pride and flavor, with freshly grown peppers.

That being said, a month or two ago I decided to get serious about sprouting some seeds to end up growing in full glory out front.  Given that it was the end of February, or early March, I had to start indoors.  Here’s the rig I built, admittedly a wee bit over-engineered, for that purpose.  Additionally, I can’t lie, I way overdid it with seedlings.  So, if you’re local, and want to grow some of these for me, let me know.

Coming down the stairs, a strange glow emerges from the utility room.

The growth space is set up on a 6′ steel shelving unit that was previously holding random boxes in “long term storage”.  Several boxes got removed, with ultimate plans to declutter and eliminate.  I picked up remarkably inexpensive shop lights and “sunlight” fluorescent bulbs to provide light.

Germination and initial sprouting, however, mostly require heat and moisture, so I used an old heating pad (without a safety shutoff), for two flats, and picked up another complete kit that had its own heating element.

The double-wide flat on the right has its own "heating pad", you can see the cord coming up behind it.

Reflectors were built in a way that I’m very proud of in a “hacker-y” sense.  I used the boxes the shop lights came in, spray glue, and silvered-mylar “emergency” blankets to put them together, then hot-glued little magnets on to hold them on the rack.

The little egg up top is still germinating, so it's getting its heat from the light below it.

Steel S-hooks and the chains that come with shop lights are perfect for controlling the height of the lights.

Tomatoes, Sweet Basil, Purple Basil, Tomatoes, Tomatoes, Tomatoes

Oregano, Habaneros, Chives, Tomatoes, Jalapenos, Cayenne Peppers

The whole bounty. If you count, yes, it's 144 seedling peat pots. Who needs seedlings?

The whole enclosure, with both reflectors in place.

I think it may prove to be a pretty bountiful year!  I’m excited to get so much successfully started in such a reasonable space.  Spicy tomato salsa for all!

So, yeah, check this out….   Jane and I decided to do a podcast where I interviewed her, instead of her doing the hosting. It’s here.

We talked about what prompted the podcast, what’s coming up, and what’s keeping both of us excited about it.  Also, after the first two, it’s nice and short, at only 33 minutes.

Also coming up for this shindig, I have plans to document a bunch of the things I’ve been up to lately, including some of the fun things I did for CyberGlitz, which you can find a gallery from here: https://www.shapewerks.com/zenphoto/cyberglitz/

Not only did I act as an “official” photographer for that party, I designed a costume involving UV LED’s, and invisible ink.  You can see some of my amazing artist friend Mar’s work in this pic:

Additionally, I’ve been sprouting a bunch of tomatoes and peppers to try for a better front-porch garden this year, and I’ll be posting some pictures of that setup soon.

Sorry for being a wee bit scattered, but, I’ve been sleeping like crap since the time change.  Stupid time change.

After a good bit of delay, much of which was indeed my fault, the inaugural Podcast from Sharp Pointy Objects has been posted!

Find it here.

Some of the details, in photos:

Jane's getting serious

A selection of microphones

The Recording Setup - MBP and Alesis Multimix 8 USB

The podcast was mostly fueled by cheese and wine:

Cesqua, going in for a refuel of cheese.

Keeping track, by name and color

The party in full effect

As some of you may already know, I am a founding member of Denver’s Hackerspace, Denhac.  It can be found at www.denhac.org, if you are curious to learn more.  While there, you may note on the schedule that we have a “Show and Tell” night tonight, http://denhac.org/2012/02/12/valentines-show-tell/.

I, myself, am a little bit (well, maybe a lot) against “holidays” that artificially, to my mind, create some sense of obligation.  Valentine’s Day is among the worst of these offenders for me.  I believe it creates an extreme sense that there is some obligation to prove one’s love to another, as well as creating an extreme sense, usually, of wildly unreasonable expectation and angst.

In short, I believe that if two people are truly in love, you don’t need a special day for it.  And, if two people aren’t truly in love, this day creates a terrible stress that can break what might otherwise still be a pretty good relationship.

Also, it’s my Mom’s Birthday, another thing I’m not terribly good at.  Regardless, Happy Birthday, Mom.

Really, though, all of that ranting aside, I think using Valentine’s Day as a day to show off geeky projects, and hang out with your friends at your local Hackerspace is a pretty good choice.  It’s where I’ll be, showing off some of the stuff I’m playing with, and working on in a sense that is at least slightly more than playing.

It’s open to the public, I suggest you come on down. 

Okay, I’m not moving QUITE as quickly as I’d like today, but I’ve still gotten some things done, even if they’re bizarre and silly, like my strange organizational tangents:

Yep, legs and batteries. At least they're labeled.

I got a wee bit hungry:

Sure, it's cereal for children, dry, but hey, titanium spork!

And finally, I found this, in a bag that had been to Defcon with me, along with those lanyards:

Hey! Who the hell drew Pedobear in sharpie on my ping-pong ball?

I’m lookin’ at you, Spux….

Okay, after a bit of a long and painful day, I haven’t got much to say here….

I did want to do a bit of a tease, though, about some thoughts rolling around in the back of my head that you can look forward to in days to come:

• Why I’m back at it!
• Some thoughts on DJ’ing that have occurred to me
• Hackerspaces, Locksport, and other various subjects that are confusing to the general public, and possibly even sound dangerous, but are still important to me, and why I think they should be important to you
• More art, and DIY thoughts, undoubtedly
• A wildly belated “2011 Wrapup”
• My thoughts on whether “Instagram” and other methods for making digital photographs look “vintage” are cheating, probably combined with pimping places you can actually buy some of my photographs, causing me, personally, some minor profit
• One hopes, new pens
• More silly songs
• And, undoubtedly, more pictures of my cat because, as far as I can tell, cats are pretty popular on the Internet.

Here’s one to tide you over:

Since I got harassed yesterday for pics from my “Good Day”, all y’all get to suffer a picture post!  It’s actually going to include some older pictures that people had been curious about, but, they sorta tie in.

It's a black robe, come on, what more do you really need?

This is what the component parts of a Sparkfun protoshield look like, organized neatly.

Assembled

Some snow results

More

One of the organization toys, with labels!

The tape deck!

This is how my second Arduino is currently configured. It's a very bizarre little "synthesizer".

This is how my first Arduino is set up now. This also shows my relatively spiffy "plexiglass" mounting for it.

Psion Organiser II! Model CM Very bizarre. 2 bucks.

I’d say that should hold you for a little while.  Zoom in!  See all the glorious colors!

Thank you, and good night.

I had great results yesterday, with my relatively brief shopping excursion into the snowy streets, although, admittedly, not everything I wanted was in stock at Harbor Freight, and one item turned out to be significantly less impressive in person.

Regardless, I now have a great little container to store all the various tiny bits of electronics I’ve picked up as I start to play with the world of the Arduino, and it even has space to store both of my current Arduino setups.

Even better, I finally found a bathrobe that is pretty much perfect, for 7 bucks at the nearby thrift store.  When the hell did 100% cotton bathrobes start to cost more than $50?

Even more delightful, I did, in fact, find an extremely kickin’ dual tape deck, marked $14.99.  To sweeten that deal even further, it was half price!  I’ve now tested and cleaned it, and it seems to be in as good a shape as it ever could have been.

Finally, the best part?  I didn’t have to use my AK.